Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Strikes
by Icarus 'Stryke' Aethon
Summary: I've always wanted some form of adventure in my boring routine of a life, but never thought my favorite video game combined with my headset that I created would sate that thirst...and drown me entirely. After blacking out on my couch, I awoke on a train with...PSICOM soldiers? What the hell's happening, and will I make it out?
1. Chapter I: Is Life a Game?

**A/N Hey guys, I know you'll be pissed off that I'm starting another fic even though I haven't completed the other 2. I just couldn't wait to finish them though, not when this idea was so fresh in my mind. And to those of you wondering about the title, this has nothing to do with Lightning Returns at all. It's strictly for XIII-1 and XIII-2. A note, this fanfic will revolve around my O.C. which is basically myself if I was in FFXIII. Also, my home-life is nothing like my O.C.'s. Also, I don't remember every single line in FFXIII, so some of the dialogue will be modified. With that out of the way, I don't own Final Fantasy XIII, all rights go to Square Enix. There will be a more detailed summary below. Please R&amp;R and maybe even favorite me or this story. Hell, you can even flame me if you want. They just crack me up anyway. Please criticize how you see fit, and thank you for checking this out. Also, I know the cover picture is Lightning and Noctis, but this is not a lightis story. In fact, Noct does not make an appearance at all. I apologize for being misleading, but it's the closest I could to look like my O.C. I apologize again.  
As always, cheers,  
Stryke**

Summery: I've always wanted some kind of excitement in my boring routine of a life. Maybe that's why I love video games so much. Being a sixteen year old with a fortune and parents who are always out-of-country, I just picked up a system and some games after hearing my friends talk about them. This was...the beginning of this year. I picked up a Ps3, a special edition copy of Final Fantasy XIII, and the special edition strategy guide. I paid the cash up front, which was well over $300, and the clerk's eyes nearly popped out of his head. Anyway, as soon as I got home, I plugged it into our hundred inch T.V., and started the game. Approximately five to seven hours later, I had dinner. I was enthralled by this amazing game. The world, the graphics, the music, characters, just everything about it was amazing. However, after the hundreds of hours I put into that game and finally beat it, I was still...unsatisfied. So unsatisfied that I restarted the game, and made it harder on myself by setting weaker paradigms to my party. This lengthened the amount of time it took to beat the game due to the many, many deaths that followed this suicidal plan. However, when I did finally beat it, I felt like I had actually accomplished something with my life. That brings us to the present. It's finally here, summer break. I walked home from school, dropped my backpack on the floor, and started up Final Fantasy. I believed I deserved some gaming time after I completed the eleventh grade with the highest GPA in my entire grade. Besides, I needed to test out the gaming headset I created as an extracurricular project. It boosted sound and visuals from the T.V., and I'd been dying to use it. However something went wrong. When I put on the headset, I felt light headed, and I must have passed out. When I awoke, I was inside...

**Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Strikes**

**Chapter I: Is life a game?**

_It's finally here, Summer. The best time of year besides Christmas. At least during Christmas, I can actually see my "parents". _I thought bitterly. I was currently walking to my house, though calling it that would be an insult. The sheer size of the mansion rivaled the White House, and its library put the one in Harry Potter to shame. The first sign of the mansion that was visible was our mailbox with the name Aethon engraved on its side. Even our mailbox was large. I guess now would be a good time to introduce myself, as you know my last name now. My name is Icarus Aethon. It's Greek, obviously, and I guess my father found it ironic to name me Icarus, as our last name means flame in English. I'm sure we all know what happened to Icarus's wings when he flew too close to the sun.

Now, my appearance is as follows: I'm tall, with a height of 5' 11". My hair is onyx black, and I keep it in a low comb-over that covers my left eye. Speaking of which, my eyes are a very light silver color. My skin is pale, so much so that people have told me multiple times to get outside more. However, as I have told them before, I don't care at all. In fact, a super computer that has been computing data for over a thousand years, could not even come close to the amount of fucks that I do not give. My body is also toned, thanks to the amount of sit-ups I do daily, as well as the cardiovascular activities that I work into my schedule. Just because I'm addicted to video games, doesn't mean that I sit on my ass all day.

I took a moment to review what I was wearing in case it was ripped or stained, not wanting Nelly to think that I got into a fight or something equally trivial. She would grant a hour long lecture about how violence is wrong after spotting a red stain on me that just happened to be ketchup. That being said, it doesn't mean that I'm not man enough to fight for my beliefs, I just think getting in a brawl over social and economical differences between fellow adolescents was pointless. I had on a collared white button-up underneath an unbuttoned black blazer. My black slacks were spotless as well. On my feet were my best pair of black converse. I suspected that most people believed that I was an emo bachelor. If you wish to know how much I cared about their opinion, then refer to the third to last sentence of the previous paragraph. Stuffing my hands into my pockets, I walked down my exhaustively large driveway. After about fifteen minutes, the gate that separated the Aethon Manner from the world outside came into my field of vision. Taking the electronic gate opener from my blazer's inner pocket, I held down the button.

I smirked as I spoke in my smooth voice, "Open sesame." The cast iron gates slowly swung open, allowing entrance to the mansion that I have lived in since birth. I walked forward, knowing most people would be awed by the sheer size of the onyx painted mansion. For me however, the building lost its wonder as I matured. The feelings of impression and disbelief that had been so strong as a child, were now only distant memories in the back of my mind. In fact, I could say these emotions died in me entirely, at least until Final Fantasy resurrected them. I put my hand on the cool metal of the right entrance door, and pulled it open. Expecting Nelly to be home, I was surprised that she wasn't there to greet me at the door like she did almost every day. I walked through the grand entrance hall with a chandelier overhead and a red carpet that went from the front door to the top of both spiral staircases. As you can observe, my family is very modest.

I hadn't realized how starving I was until this moment, so I made my way to Nelly's second room in this humble abode, the kitchen. Now, I know that most kitchen's are part of a larger dining room usually. Here, the kitchen is almost as large if not the same size as the dinning hall. After passing many a hallway, corridor, and doors in general, I came to the kitchen, but there was still no sign of Nelly. I sighed, hunger forgotten, and decided to go to the living quarters and try out one of my own inventions that was inside my backpack. Walking through the bottom floor, I spotted the first sign of my second room: the giant ass T.V. My father had shipped from Tokyo. It was one hundred inches, and Anything played on it made you question yourself why you didn't have one. That's when the piece of outside stimulus scotch-taped to the television caught my attention. Looking at it, I realized it was a note written in familiar handwriting.

_Your emoness,  
As I'm sure you have noticed, I am not here, and will not be until late. I suggest you order pizza or some other type of delivery food to sustain yourself instead of attempting to cook something and fail...miserably, resulting in the destruction of your manor and your pre-mature demise. Listen to this twenty-nine year old, your life depends on it. I don't want to be the one that has to explain to Mr. and Mrs. Aethon that their only child perished in a cooking flame. Until dinner, you have your Play Station, and I put your fake ID on the counter so that you don't have to bug me about allowing clerks to sell you M rated shit. Anyway, I'll be home around nine or ten, and if you're still awake, we'll go have a celebration dinner at your favorite restaurant for having the highest GPA in your grade. Before you wonder how I know, the Dick-I mean Dean-called to congratulate my parenting skills. If he only knew that underneath your cold, emo, and moronic exterior, there's the heart and soul of a true scholar. __  
__Love you kiddo,  
__Nelly_

After reading and re-reading her note, a smile found its way on my lips. Nelly may make quips and jests about my appearance, but I know that she cares about me a lot. I mean, she pays me more attention than my own mother does. I mean, she's been watching me since she was fifteen. I've known her my whole life, and when she turned eighteen, my parents offered to let Aethon Manor become her new home. I was glad that she accepted it, and still am. As to where she was, she was most likely at her boyfriend's house. I've also known him my entirely life, due to their relationship now lasting fifteen years. I shook my head at the thought. Everyone thought it would only last about five, and when that number of years passed, with them still together, they bet it would last only another five. I'm betting now, and I cast my vote that it would last ten more years. Only five more to go and see if I win any money or lose some.

Putting the note on the large ottoman, I turned my Ps3, and already knew what game to test my invention out with. Pressing the eject button on the system to check if said game was in it, I watched as the figure of Lightning greeted me. Smirking slightly, I lightly pushed the delicate disc back into the system. Slipping off the backpack that I had almost forgotten was on my shoulders, I unzipped the largest pocket and pulled out a solid black, full-faced headset. Now, I of course knew it worked, because I tested it out on a computer. All I had to do was find the USB plug-in for the Ps3, and then find the headphone jack on the T.V., and my work was done.

Five minutes of cussing, electric socks, and naughty plugs later, my precious headset was plugged in. I turned on the controller, slipped on the headset, and lay down on the leather couch. Through the headset, I saw the opening sequence of Final Fantasy, and I was amazed at my own work. I could move my head freely around, and as I did so, the images matched where I was looking. This was, in all simplicity, just an upgraded version of the Oculus Rift. I created it, and it worked. I could scarcely contain the emotions swirling in me. At least until I saw the game glitch out to just a white screen. I stared in confusion, and then horror as the same thought bounced around my skull like a gas molecule: IT BROKE!

I nearly tore off my failed invention. Nearly. What stopped me was black words rolling down the screen. And shortly afterward, a robotic and low pitched voice spoke through the headset.

"ICARUS AETHON, YOU ARE THE ONLY ADOLESCENT IN AMERICA TO COME UP WITH, DESIGN, AND CREATE A HEADSET SUCH AS THIS ALL BY YOURSELF. BECAUSE OF THIS FACT, YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN. I WILL NOT SAY ANYMORE ABOUT THIS. PLEASANT DREAMS, MR. AETHON."

I didn't know what to think, and even if I did, it wouldn't do me any good. The reason for that is simple. After he finished speaking, I was overwhelmed by a terrible pain coming from behind my eyes. Just when I thought I couldn't endure it any longer, I disgorged the contents from my stomach, and everything went black.

**A/N: So, how did you guys like it? I actually posted it the day I started it, how 'bout that? I'd say that's an achievement. Anyway, I'll start chapter 2 tonight, and hopefully finish tomorrow. I also hope you enjoyed reading, 'cause I enjoyed writing. Feedback is greatly appreciated, so please, R&amp;R if you want, and please do criticize me. It'll just improve my writing, and your enjoyment.  
Cheers,  
Stryke**


	2. Chapter II

**A/N: I don't have anything to say or note at the moment besides thank you to those of you who read the debut chapter of this, and thank you coOldoOd for being the first follower of this fan-fic. Also, thank you Guest 1 for being my first reviewer on this and for your praise. Here's chapter 2 for all you guys. I hope you enjoy, and please R&amp;R, criticize, and flame. Flame away.**  
**Cheers,**  
**Stryke**

**Chapter II: Sweet Moves, Both Her's and Mine**

I awoke to the sound of a train. It wasn't a normal chugga-chugga sound, but more of a loud rumbling. A sound that I heard once before, but I couldn't place where. My mind was racing enough as it was, trying to process where I was. The last thing I remembered was laying down on my couch. I tried to move my hands, but noticed they were electrically cuffed, and my arms were covered in long white sleeves that had blue details running along the sides. I know I didn't own anything like that. It did look extremely familiar for some unbeknownst reason. The doors to my right opened and I saw a guard in yellow and black body armor walk in. He also had a yellow futuristic gas mask on his face and a rather large gun in his hand.

I heard a voice whisper from my direct left, "You serious?"

Then a woman's voice, sharp and commanding snapped, "Be quiet!"

Out of my peripheral vision, I saw the first one who spoke's face, and the pieces instantly clicked, even before he spoke. "Well, best of luck then." That black man's name was Sazh, and that meant that this train...

I didn't have time to complete the thought, because in the next instant, the train lurched from right to left as we crashed through the security checkpoint. As my head bashed into the sides of my seat, I realized that watching a train nearly crash, and being inside a train that nearly crashed are two very different things. When my vision came back to me, I saw my hands weren't restrained, and the guard that once was holding a gun near me was on the ground, crumpled in a heap. The work of Lightning. This was really happening. This wasn't some dream. Because I built a helmet for enhanced gaming, I was chosen by some insane and irrational individual. Because of my intellect, I was placed inside Final Fantasy XIII. This was...this was...fucking awesome! I was put inside my favorite game, and I could where I pleased, learn to pilot an airship, and maybe make a contribution to the denizens of Cocoon.

"She did it!" Sazh exclaimed, completely breaking my thoughts apart in to figurative bits. At that moment, I began running completely on autopilot, and another memory busted into my mind about the two soldiers firing countless rounds of ammunition at Lightning. I dove towards the unconscious soldier's assault rifle, took cover behind the end of my seat row, and pointed the barrel at the door. Sure enough, two PSICOM jarheads came through the automatic train door, squeezing the triggers of their rifles. Lightning jumped into the air, spinning as bullets tore her cloak to shreds. I aimed for the left PSICOM, remembering that Lightning disarms the one on the right. When I had the sights lined up with the center of his gas mask, I exhaled slowly before pulling the trigger.

Good news, the bullet hit its mark. Bad news, I forgot to take the recoil of the assault rifle into consideration, so I was now nursing an injured nose. _Note to self: don't aim automatic firearms in front of face. It will not end well. _I thought as I mentally kicked myself. At least it wasn't broken. I could hear gunshots ring out farther in the train, and felt every instinct I had telling me to rush in there and help Lightning out. My knowledge of her and this game told me that I would only be a detriment to her. Everyone around me began shedding off their heavy white cloaks, and I soon found myself joining them.

I then noticed Sazh rush to a small kid in a fetal position. "You alright? I'm not a l'Cie." He had a worried expression on his face that slowly turned into a smile as his pet chocobo popped out from his messy Afro. The kid returned the smile almost immediately. Sazh was wearing hos green pilot jacket and pants. Under his jacket he wore a black T-shirt.

He then turned towards me as if he just noticed I was there and spoke, "Hey kid, where did you get that jacket? Hard these days to get leather like that, eh?"

I looked down at my apparel and saw a combination of clothing I've never worn or had any interest in before: I had on a black leather jacket, and a black long sleeve underneath. I had on black combat pants with lots of pockets, and black steel-toed boots. On my hands were black finger-less gloves that looked like they came from the eighty's. I guess that if I was back home, people would think I looked like an emo rocker, 'cause my hair was still in my normal style...and not a single fuck would be given.

Realizing that Sazh asked me a question, I raised my head and spoke, "I actually acquired this from my father. He...couldn't make it.I lied easily, knowing that it would definitely work on him.

As I thought, emotion spread on his face: sadness, then pity. "I'm sorry kid, truly I am. My name is Sazh. " He extended his hand for me to shake. I grasped his fore arm, showing I was grateful for his concern, though of course it was a fluke. I was really just wondering what I should say to him name-wise. I wasn't going to say my real name of course, and then inspiration came to me. I thought about fast Lightning was, and it was then easy to come up with a suitable alias.

"Stryke. My name is Stryke." I inwardly smirked at the brilliance that was me.

He nodded before saying, "We should probably catch up to Soldier Girl. Who knows what she is getting herself into." I nodded, and joined the sea of rebels. We moved further into the train, trying to catch up to Lightning. Her path was easily noticed, just follow the trail of dead PSICOM. We looted as many weapons as possible, and I stopped as I noticed a glint of shinning metal. People were passing me up as I moved closer to the half opened crate and picked up the object-well, objects-that had captured my attention. They were two long swords, both black bladed and hilt. I picked one up, and noticed that they were held in a leather cross sheathed, the sheathes making a X pattern. Knowing that I'd have plenty of time to check them out soon, I slid my arms through the straps, and secured it to my back. I checked to make sure I could grab the hilts, before bolting after Sazh.

I was, well excited, to say in the least. I had never heard of, or seen these blades in the game. They were obviously put there for me, but by who? The nut-job who 'chose me'? I shook my head, trying to focus. That's when I heard Sazh's familiar voice up ahead.

"We're doing good, they all wanna fight." He spoke to none other than Lightning Farron herself.

"Good for them" she replied coldly. I took in her appearance. She was wearing the guardian's core uniform, with a sleeveless turtleneck underneath the sleeveless white coat. The mini-skirt clung to her lower frame tightly, and her leather boots were well-worn. To top it all off, she wore the crimson shoulder cape on her right shoulder that identified her as Sergent. Looking at her, I grew a strange feeling in my gut. I mean, she definitely was a beautiful woman, especially brought to life and not CGI, but the idea that I could feel attracted to her? I shook my head, knowing the strange feeling was cause of the after effects of being transported inside of a game. That's the only thing it could be.

Thankfully, my distracting thought process was interrupted by the sound of gunfire coming from the small PSICOM birds zooming around. I took cover as Lightning forcefully grabbed a rocket launcher that resembled a RPG, locked her target, and blasted one of the damn things out of the sky. Sadly, the explosion caused a train cart to separated from us, fall of the tracks, bring down parts of the tracks, and allow people still oriented enough to fire at the swarming PSICOM soldiers, to do so.

Suddenly, the great hulking metal behemoth, also known as the first enemy in the game, dropped onto the moving train, causing a direct stop, and the whole thing began shaking. _It's here, this'll be difficult. The game has truly become real._

The monster's fucking tail cut through most of the train, leaving only this car. A hole was punctured in the roof, as Lightning began marching towards the mechanical monster that awaited us there. I too began advancing to the creature, knowing that was our only way to get off this thing.

"Run!" Sazh yelled, as Lightning and I bolted towards the damned thing. "I meant away!" His cries fell upon deaf ears as we both hopped up to the roof of the train. Looking from the metal ogre in front to directly behind me, I saw the old man mustered his courage and climbed up. His face then grew quite surprised and fearful as he gauged the fight we had on our hands. Lightning seemed unfazed with her blade drawn, and a glare on her face. Even if I couldn't see myself, I know if I did, I would be intimidated. I could feel the deep glare full of hatred on my face that I wore when dealing with self-righteous assholes who jumped and maimed random targets for no reason except for he looked rich or like an easy target.

My hands found themselves at the hilts of my own blades, swiftly ripping them out of their sheathes. The blades I held with the tips down and the blade slightly angled towards me. Instinctively, I bent my knees and focused my center of gravity on the balls of my feet. I looked very much like the main character of an anime that I couldn't remember the name of when he was fighting against a giant bull-like monster. (A/N: If you've seen the anime, then you definitely remember that exhausting fight.)

"He-hey now, be cool! We can work this out." Sazh pleaded while crawling away from it. I turned my venom on him.

"You're trying to reason with it? You'll have better chance of shooting yourself in the dick with a gunblade in sword mode!" I was glade I was able to finish that, because as soon as I did, the hulking metal monstrosity dragged its arm across the top of the train attempting to knock us into the chasm below. Sazh scrambled backwards on his knees, I jumped back, and was wishing for a better view as Lightning back flipped.

"That's how it's gonna be now...what do we do?" He asked as he hastily got on his feet.

I noticed Lightning smirk slightly as she spoke, "Watch and learn."

"Watching it seems, is a better alternative for him than fighting." I didn't feel the slightest bit of humor that would normally flow through me as I spoke.

He didn't have a chance to respond as electrified drills began running on the damned things arms, and they came straight for Lightning. She hopped back away from the close shave, landed in a crouch, and took up a ready position with her knees slightly bent like mine, but she turned her body slightly, and held her sword arm in a lazy stance, waiting for the behemoth to make its next move. I began to feel and let the adrenaline pump through my veins, and in short, aside from all the hatred I felt for this machine, though I have no idea why I was feeling hatred, was that I was enjoying the thought of my blades slashing through it. I assumed the hatred was because of all the innocent lives it had just put in danger or ended entirely. The enjoyment though...I couldn't place. I shook my head slightly. _Focus on the battle. Focus ahead of you, not anywhere in your mind. And for God's sake, stop staring at Lightning's ass!_ I was instantly jolted to reality, and focused all attention back to the beast. Sazh must have regained some sense, because he had, finally, drawn his two favorite pistols.

Lightning charged first at the Manasvin Warden, and dealt three fast blows beat before being forced to dodge a drill. Sazh offered cover fire, and I dashed forward, leaping into the air, and landed on the Warden's nose, as it was a giant AI controlled ship, with a horribly sharp tail. I reversed my grip on both swords, which I noticed had electricity running along the blades, and plunged them straight into it's head, and, hopefully, it's brain circuitry. The Warden shook and started smoking from the electricity, and I knew I wouldn't have that long a time window.

"Lightning, finish it! Now, you don't have much time to strike!"

I didn't have to tell her twice, as she was slashing and hacking at it with such speed and ferocity that I sworn she gave herself the name, Lightning, because of her speed. After about a minute of putting up with Lightning's abuse, the Warden bucked me off, and I got a great view of the city as I plummeted, back first, towards certain death. I knew I would end up a good looking, emo stain on the ground.

The one thing that was spewing out of my mouth was thus: "Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!"

Sazh, and surprisingly, Lightning called out.

"Kid!"

"No!"

Her voice, her worried sounding voice that usually so cold and emotionless, was the last thing I heard.

**So, how did you guys like it? I appreciate the already positive feedback I've been getting on this, and I thank all of you guys who have followed and favorited this and me. Thank you. Please R&amp;R, follow and favorite if you want, and of course to you flamers out there, flame me. Flame as much as you like. **


	3. Chapter III

**A/N: Hey guys, how did you enjoy the last chapter? As I'm sure some of you got, but the chapter name was completely sarcastic, referring to Stryke falling off the Warden. To those of you curious, he doesn't lose his weapons. Wanna know why? Because it's Final Fantasy, and no matter what happens in this series, unless you're captured, you always have your weapons. Even if in a cut-scene, they clatter to the ground, when you can continue playing, the weapon that he/she dropped is back on his/her back. So yeah, that's my reasoning. I would like to thank Lecteur84, tzu753, neverending000, Samjones93, and Ulquiorra9900 for favoriting and/or following me and/or this fan-fic. I'm very, well happy, that my work is getting so much positive feedback. Please keep it up, but also remember that criticism is extremely welcome, because, much as I loathe to admit it, I am an amateur at writing so criticism is extremely welcome. Hope you all enjoy this chapter, and please R&amp;R, follow and/or favorite if you'd like, and don't forget to flame me to hell.  
Cheers,  
Stryke**

**Chapter III: Team NORA, The Bridge, and the One Man Army  
**

I heard someone walking around in what sounded like boots. Everything hurt, but I couldn't remember why. As my senses returned, I found that I was laying on something soft, and slightly firm. I opened my eyes, and sunlight attacked them. I flinched, putting my hand in front of the light, when I heard a familiar, yet different voice say hurriedly.

"Oh, I'm sorry Icarus, I completely forgot to close the blinds."

Ruffling sounds were heard as the light slowly faded. Moving my hand away from my eyes, my vision was slightly blurry, but I could make out black pants and a red long sleeve shirt. The voice was feminine, and as my eyes slowly cleared, I noticed her approach me, and I almost gasped as I saw her face. The face that was almost always glaring at something, was now smiling slightly at me. Lightning Farron was smiling at me. I covered up my shock by taking a glance around me and saw I was laying on a California king sized bed with black sheets, inside a humongous master bedroom.

"While you were asleep, Serah and Snow came by to pick up the kids, saying that she thought we needed time to ourselves."

The questions inside my mind quadrupled as she said those words. _Kids? Lightning? Kids, Lightning, and I? Ourselves? What in Etro's na-_

My thoughts were cut off by the feeling of something soft pressed against my lips. With a start, I realized they were Lightning's lips. Even though this was completely irrational and not like her at all, I returned the kiss as my right hand cupped her face, while my left found its way to the back of her head where I lightly stroked her rose-colored hair. Slowly, and unhappily, she removed her lips from mine. I may not be a people person, but I could tell she didn't want to end it.

A smirk slowly spread over features as she spoke, "Just checking to make sure you were awake Icarus. So, is there anything that you wanted to do today with our alone time?"

A smirk slowly found its way on my face as I sat up slowly. "I don't have any ideas except for of course-" With speed that I didn't, no couldn't, posses my arms wrapped around Lightning's waist and I pulled her right next to me on the bed. "that, love."

Her eyes narrowed, but the glint of humor never left them. "A devious plot indeed. Apprehending me and holding me captive in your filthy clutches. However-" The next thing I knew, my hands were pinned by her's as she sat on my chest. "every soldier has her advantages and skills." The looks of triumph and humor were etched into her face, and I smiled up at her. She smiled down at me. Slowly we began moving our heads closer to each other, and right when our lips made contact, a gruff voice shattered the silent tranquility that was supposed to be shattered by another person's screams.

"Kid! Kid!"

My eyes shot open, and I saw two things: 1. There was a giant guy in a white trench coat and black pants standing over me. A black bandana covered his blonde unruly hair and finger-less biker gloves adorned his hands. 2. My lips were puckered, and I was extremely close to complete disaster. I reeled and practically threw myself away from him, coughing and spitting repeatedly, making an emo spectacle out of myself. I wiped my lips with the back of my hand, before turning back towards him. I knew who he was, of course. Snow Villiars, the most egotistical, heroic, and cocky son of a bitch in the history of gaming.

He smirked slightly as he spoke, "Hey, you were coming onto me, I'm the victim here. If anyone should be gagging, it's me, and I'm a damn good kisser. You should be begging for more." My face went through three different stages: shocked, horrified, and pissed. When he saw this, he put his hands up in mock surrender. "Kid, I'm kidding, there was no lip contact. You should've seen your face though. My name's Snow, the leader of the resistance group, NORA. What happened to you, and are you alright?"

_Tch, always the hero, eh Snow?_ "I was fighting a Manasvin Warden on the roof of a train. When I leaped on top of it, the damned thing bucked me off. I'm fine, and that reminds me, how am I fine?" Snow looked at me before pointing behind me. Turning to look, my eyes widened. Right in front of me was a huge pile of concrete, metal, and pieces of track. _The battle is really taking its toll on the city...even though it's same damage as it was on the screen, it just seems so much more decimated and tragic now that it's real and not CG. _

"I saw you falling and tried to get to you, but you landed on the top of that pile, and rolled down the rest of the way. In fact, I don't know how your ribs aren't broken or bruised. I guess you can really take a hit, huh?"

Well, at least I know why everything hurts, but I wasn't going to voice that. I didn't have any broken bones, and I didn't bruise my bones, just my skin. So, by their standards, I'm fine. I turned back towards Snow before growing a smirk of my own.

"Got that right. Now, are we gonna sit around talking all day, or are we going to kill some PSICOM bastards?"

Snow's smirk turned into a large grin, "You know kid, I like your attitude. Let's see how my friends are doing up front. Oh, you in need of a gun?"

"Tch, who needs guns when you got two pieces of reinforced and high frequency metal." I smirked as I grabbed the hilt of the right blade and unsheathed it. I held it up in front of my face, giving him a good view of the blade and the electricity running along it.

"More of a blade person eh? I get that. I'm not really a big fan of guns either. Rather just walk up to 'em and give them a good taste of my fist."

My lack of amusement was clear on my face._ once the idiot, always the idiot, huh Snow? _He obviously was not adept at reading facial expressions, as he continued. I tuned him out right after the first 'blah'. I tried to re-enter my illogical and completely impossible dream. My blissful thoughts were interrupted once more by the intolerable nuisance known as Snow.

"So, what's your name kid? I mean, I can't just keep calling you kid when you join NORA, you know? Too many kids in already."

I sighed inwardly. This guy thought anyone younger than him was a 'kid'. Another one of his many annoyances. "Stryke."

He smirked. "Your mother give you that name?" I don't know why, but this comment hit a nerve, my sword arm nerve. My blade was at his throat, and I was even surprised at the sound of my voice.

"Let's get one thing settled. You don't bring up my mother. Ever. Or my father for that matter, and I don't introduce your esophagus to the floor. Those terms alright with you?"

He nodded, and when I sheathed my right blade, he spoke, "You know, you and sis would be a match made in Heaven. Heh, sis in a relationship...now that is a scary thought."

I turned away as the dream popped back into my mind. "Let's get moving, where is your colleagues' location?" I feigned ignorance so he wasn't suspicious of me or thought that I was PSICOM.

He pointed ahead as he took the lead, "Over this giant pile of rubble." He pulled himself up and over a piece of concrete that formed a rudimentary step, me following closely behind. About thirty seconds later, we dropped down from the pile and found ourselves in a firefight. I glanced at all the familiar faces around me. The muscular one with tan skin and fiery red hair was Gadot. The short one with blonde bangs in his eyes and goggles on his head was Magui. The woman with slightly short black hair and slightly slanted eyes was Lebreau. Now, if I had to put my money on a fight between them, I'd chose Lebreau as the winner. There was a reason why she was the only female in NORA.

Magui took cover behind yet another piece of building material and complained, "Ah, this is crazy!"

Gadot didn't even look at him as he spoke while laying down a barrage of fire at the PSICOM soldiers ahead of us. "Then take a nap."

Maqui jumped at the idea, "Really, can I?"

"Sure, and when we're taking a dirt nap, _you_ can save them all."

"Oh, that's even worse." He laid on his back. I made a point to stomp on his crotch as I ran past him and slid into cover.

Snow spoke over his comrade's moans of pain, "No dirt naps today, we're all in this together. Our enemy's the Cocoon Sanctum; their dreaded PSICOM, no less."

Lebreau spoke in a voice filled with humor, "What's to dread? Psicom's just a bunch of blundering bullies. They got nothing on NORA."

I cut in, "I think you mean to say that they're a bunch of pussies who had their dicks cut off in return for the power to scare those who think slimes are terrifying."

"Who's the kid?" She inquired.

Snow smirked, "NORA's newest recruit, Stryke. Now, Stryke, the one to your right is-"

I cut him off, "Not meaning to bother you, but aren't there people on the other side of this bridge that need saving?!"

Gadot stood as he spoke, still firing at the enemy, "Kid's got a point, we are the heroes after all."

Snow stood and readied his fists, "Let's prove it!"

The group, myself included, yelled in unison, "Yeah!"

I drew my swords and bolted forward, "Lay down suppressing and covering fire! I got anyone who gets in my way!" Right when I finished, A PSICOM enforcer swung his baton at my mid section. Instinct took over, and I easily parried the blow with my left blade. My right blade then found a home in his stomach. I pushed the blade to the hilt, and twisted. He screamed loudly and I felt warm liquid run down my fist. He continually screamed as I pushed the blade with all my strength to the right, freeing it from his eviscerated corpse. I sprinted forward once more, blood and body parts flying around me. I just kept cutting a path forward. How much time passed is unknown to me. It could have been seconds, it could have been hours. What I do know is that not a single soldier on that bridge was left alive...or in one piece.

When I felt the exhaustion creep in, Magui had thrown himself to the floor along with the guns he was carrying, "Oh, no more."

"Careful with those." Snow reprimanded him, and shook his head slightly.

I looked around, agreeing with Magui, and when I found that no soldiers were left standing, I stumbled before speaking, "The return of the one man army. Bow down, bitches."  
Everyone looked towards me, and I promptly fell on my face, passed out before I hit the floor.

**A/N: Better than last chapter? Worse? Let me know, and let me tell you, writing Lightning OOC like that was horribly difficult. I mean, please don't kill me for it. I just thought it would be funny to set up for the next scene and it's character development for Stryke. Anyway, I resolved that personal problem faster than expected, obviously, so expect the next chapter soon. Please R&amp;R, favorite and/or follow, and flame away at this work.**


	4. Chapter IV: Are Events Set in Stone?

**A/N: Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the last chapter, and I hope you really enjoy this one. I know this'll be hard for me to write, for obvious reasons that only people who have played the game would know. And if you haven't played the game, what da hell you doing here, round-eye? Also, I know I keep forgetting to add a disclaimer in my chapters, so yeah. I don't own Final Fantasy XIII, though I've been plotting a way to get the developers to hand it over. Square Enix sadly owns it, they did a great job with it, and they aren't allowing anyone to share ownership...DAMN YOU SQUARE ENIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIX!  
Cheers,  
Stryke**

**Chapter IV: Are Events Set in Stone?**

I awoke to the sight of eyes staring back at me, and I was majorly freaked out. I decided to voice my displeasure verbally as I sat up.

"Uh, could you stop staring at me?" Everyone still had their eyes glued to me, and I saw one girl with red hair flowing out of her hood stare glazed eyed as she muttered softly.

"Wh-what?"

"I said, 'could you stop staring at me', it's creepy!" She instantly grew attentive as she muttered an apology. I stood shakily to my feet, and found Snow, a concerned look etched on his features. I walked over to him and spoke, "What happened? Weren't we taking cover on the other side of the bridge?"

He looked at me strangely, "You don't remember slicing up those PSICOM like a blender slicing fruit without the lid? I mean, just look at yourself. You're covered in blood, Stryke."

It was my turn to have a strange look on my face, and then I looked down. My hands were coated in a reddish brown crust, and the dark splotches that literally covered me head to toe stank foully. I turned back to the bridge, and took a few steps forward. I will remember that sight for the rest of my days. There was so much blood. I saw bodies cut in half, heads without bodies, bodies without heads, arms, legs, limbless corpses, and charred stumps strung along the bridge. None of them had bullet holes. All of them were too disfigured to identify on sight. I had done all of this, with only two swords. And that is when the smell hit. I couldn't take it. I lurched forward, fell to my knees, and emptied all the contents of my stomach. And even after, I continued to dry heave. A pain ravaged my brain, and I saw stars. I sat there on my hands and knees for Etro knows how long. I finally tried to stand, and I felt a hand trying to support. I snarled at Snow, I was not some weak link. I could stand on my own. When I did make it to my feet, I promptly bent over and regurgitated what was my left. My throat burned at the acid, and my eyes stung. I stood, and stayed standing before rejoining the group, knowing we'd have to cross once more.

Snow was handing out firearms to those who wanted to fight. _Glad I wasn't dragged into that conversation._ I thought as checked inside my pockets for the first time. I hoped the psychopath who 'chose' me, at least thought to add a rag of some kind so I could take care of the massive amounts of blood that was going to be spilled. In them I found: A potion, a phoenix down, an wrapped wet-wipe, and a Snickers Bar wrapper. Cute. I drew my blades, sat down, opened the wet-wipe, and tried as best I could to clean the bloodied blades that still had meat clinging to them. I almost retched again, but I bit through it and wiped the blades down multiple times. Thoughts jumbled inside my skull. _What possessed me to do this? I mean, it was either me or them, but I butchered them. From the ways the bodies were mutilated, it looked like I enjoyed it. Keep it down Icarus, keep it down. You've vomited enough for one day. Besides, there's something you have to do. Hope's mother is counting on you. _

With that thought in mind, I finished cleaning them to the best of my ability, and sheathed them once more. If I didn't do everything in my power to keep Nora alive, Hope's path for vengeance would ultimately destroy him. It was only a matter of time. I had to change and alter this amazing story-line. I nodded to myself, stood, and walked towards Snow, as I saw them moving out, Nora right beside him. I cursed and sprinted after them. That's when I saw the soldiers approaching our position. I drew my blades, and kept my thoughts on protecting Nora. That was the only thought that would keep me from curling into a ball and suck on my thumb. _Three PSICOM wardens, eh? That's not so ba-oh shit. _I inwardly groaned as I remembered the synthetic beast we would have to kill. A pantheron on steroids. The Beta Behemoth. As soon as this popped into my mind, I saw the airship drop down, and the Behemoth dropped from it. Its legs and body were synthetic, but those eyes were real, so full of hate. I took up a ready stance as that idiot-sorry, leader-shouted.

"Real heroes don't run from fights!" he then brought his fists up. I sighed and focused on the monster PSICOM created. The armor that protected it would be hard to slice through, and my blades might break if I attempted that route. I studied the spots where the limbs met the body, and decided that was my best shot. I dashed forward, feeling the rage build within me once more. This artificial bastard was not leaving with all its limbs, that's for damn sure. Gun shots rang out behind me and I smirked, seeing that Gadot was aiming for its eyes. When I neared it, the damn thing attempted to swipe at me with its claws. I dodged to the right, jumped on its arm, came to the point where its limb met its body, leaped into the air, and brought both blades down on the Behemoth's shoulder, severing it completely. The monstrosity tried to regain a sense of balance. I cut that short as I jumped onto its back, and ran to its head. _Let's do this again, without falling off this time._

I rammed both blades into its skull, breaking through to its cerebral cortex. The Beta Behemoth squirmed for a short while, then slumped to the ground. I sheathed my blades and walked slowly and calmly off its head.

More PSICOM soldiers joined in the fight, but I knew I would be more of a detriment, so I let the resistance group and their new recruits take care of them. Gadot ran out of cover, yelling a battle cry, and dropped three soldiers with his sub-machine gun. The rest of the soldiers retreated, finally growing brain cells. We had won...at least until the airship showed its ugly face and dropped at least half of the volunteers.

"Fuck!" Snow exclaimed in fury. He then noticed a RPG lying on the ground. Without any warning, he bolted, and vaulted over it. I saw his fingers touch the handle before he got shot in the leg. The airship pointed its laser cannon directly at Snow, and the firing preparations were made. I knew what was going to happen even before it did. Nora got up, and bolted towards the rocket launcher. I followed close behind, making sure that I would be able to catch her when the inevitable occurred. She picked up the launcher, locked the ship, and pulled the trigger. The airship was hit, the laser cannon shifted, and the laser missed Snow entirely.

Nora turned to him and spoke, "I told you didn't I? Moms are tough." She knelled down, and offered Snow her hand to get him off his ass, of which he accepted. The blast from the laser then promptly threw us off our feet. Nora landed on Snow, Snow landed on his back, and I about cracked my skull open on the bridge. When I looked around myself, I saw the bridge in two pieces, and Nora and Snow were on the other side. That's when my side of the bridge started angling. Fast as Lightning, I unsheathed my right blade, and stabbed it into the bridge, allowing me to hang on. I was NOT falling again. That's when I looked back, and saw Snow's side of the bridge do the same. He held onto a piece of pipe with his left hand, and Nora's hand in his right. His strength alone was suspending them over a void that meant certain death. I saw Nora look up at him, and didn't have to hear her words to know what she said.

_"Get him home...please."_

Nora let go of Snow's hand, and he tried as hard as he could to hold on. I closed my eyes as I heard him yell, and could practically hear Hope's. One tore itself from my lungs, and I hung limply from my sword. That's when I felt the bridge shudder. I quickly tore the left blade from its sheathe, and hastily ascended. I didn't what would happen if I died, and frankly I didn't want to find out; if pain and exhaustion were real here, death would probably be too. Scurrying like a squirrel up a tree, I made to the edge where it was breaking before the thing snapped like a twig. Using my legs, I kicked up, and barely made it across the growing gap. I breathed in and out heavily before deciding that I could use a small breather. That is until a giant object passed by displaying the same message that Sazh, Lightning, Hope, and Vanille were all hearing. They all saw what I saw. The Fal'Cie Vestige.

_"Attention Purge deportees. Attention Purge deportees. Put down your weapons and surrender immediately. Your removal is the will of the people of Cocoon. Should you attempt to flee, the Sanctum will employ every resource necessary to bring you to justice. This land is no longer your home. Cease hostilities and surrender at once."_

_Fine chance of that. _I thought as I smirked. I got up slowly, and made my way across what was left of the bridge. There, I followed the route that Lebreau had taken the kids. When I finally got to the lower section, I saw a velocycle abandoned and unharmed. I smirked as I stepped inside and began fiddling with the controls. I built a headset from scratch, this was nothing. My actions proved my thoughts correct, because after pulling a lever, I heard the engine begin to purr. My smirk increased as I settled inside of it, and took off from the ground automatically. The controls were fairly simple, luck was on my side. I then put the thing into gear, and zoomed backwards, nearly crashing it into the bridge.

"Heh, wrong gear." I said as I did the exact opposite of my previous action, and managed to get it flying forwards. I realized that shifting my weight actually turned it like a motorcycle. My smirk was plastered to my face as I headed for the Fal'Cie Vestige. The Pulse side of the Sanctum's Fal'Cie. This was where my fate would be set. This was where I got my Focus, and it was oddly different from the people who I came to consider family.

**A/N: Did you guys like it? I'm sorry for it being a shorter chapter, but this was just for Nora's death. Even though Icarus tried to save her, he couldn't change her fate. Sorry Hope, your whole journey is going to be filled with hatred. Please R&amp;R, favorite and/or follow, and flame me as much as you'd like. I'll try to upload the fifth chapter tonight, but I don't see that happening. Thank you all for reading**


	5. Chapter V: Date With the Fal'Cie

**A/N: I'm back with the next chapter. Typing this right after uploading the last one so you can enjoy this hopefully while I'm gone for a short while. I'm sorry about the last one being shorter than usual, and I promise this one will be longer and hopefully better. I hope you all enjoy. Please R&amp;R, favorite and/or follow, and flame me like there's no tomorrow. Final Fantasy I'd the property of Square Enix, and they've shut down all business with me completely. Looks like I'll have to give an old friend of mine a call...anyway please enjoy.  
Cheers,  
Stryke  
**

**Chapter V: Date With the Fal'Cie**

The giant temple that held the Pulse Fal'Cie, also known as the Fal'Cie Vestige, loomed in front of me. I saw a small opening, and decided that was my best bet inside. Maneuvering the velocycle through the opening, I touched down neatly inside the large atrium-like room. Pantherons would be prowling, but it may be worth it to wait till Hope and Vanille get here. I got off the vehicle, and sat down, deciding to wait for the kids. While I waited, my thoughts once again drifted back to that dream I had only a couple of hours before. _Has it only been a couple hours? A lot's happened in that short time. Bah, don't think like that Icarus, focus on your dream. _I then found peace and tranquility as I thought about what might have happened in that dream if I was allowed to have finished it. Once again, I was rudely interrupted by someone yelling. Wait, no two people yelling. I smirked, my wait had finally ended. Sure enough, the velocycle operated by Hope came spinning through, his and Vanille's screams ringing in my ears as he crashed. He and Vanille were blasted back by the impact, with her landing on top of him.

"Okay lovebirds, time to move. After all, don't you have a date with Snow?" I pointed at the platinum haired boy. He was thirteen, and he wore an orange and yellow jacket, a black shirt underneath, a green and black bandana around his neck, black racing gloves, green pants, and tan boots.

"'Time to move', are you crazy? Even soldiers know to stay clear of the Vestige. You become a Pulse l'Cie, and your finished. Nobody wants a potential threat anywhere near them, and l'Cie's are ticking time bombs if they don't complete their focus. And if they do, they get turned to crystal and are granted immortal life. Who wants to serve a Fal'Cie for all eternity?"

Vanille didn't seem to hear anything after finished. "What do you mean 'finished'?"

"Did you not hear a word I said, miss-"

"Vanille."

"Huh?"

"My name." She offered Hope a hand up. "And yours?"

"Uh, Hope."

Vanille was the red-head from earlier. She was covered in beads and bracelets, and wore only a red top that showed off her chest on her upper body. She wore a skirt, and boots. Everyone seemed to like boots.

She dusted Hope off and he awkwardly replied, "Thank you. We should never have come here."

"Well since we're here, let's look around!" Vanille exclaimed.

I, for once, agreed with the silent, platinum haired boy next to me. His displeasure was clearly written on his face. He was scared of becoming l'Cie...sorry kid. Me, I just wanted to get on with the l'Cie thing, and get moving. I could tell this was going to be a lot more complicated in real life than in the video game.

Vanille ran up to a statue and began jumping on it, saying, "Check this out!" When she emerged, she was holding a binding rod.

"Good for you kid, now can we get a move on?"

She nodded, her bubbly attitude not faltering. I hate you more in real life Vanille. Thankfully, pantherons began dropping in from literally nowhere. Vanille readied the binding rod, while Hope drew his boomerang.

"Oh, that's adorable! You two think they're a threat! I'll handle this easily, you two may wanna be careful though. First three rows are a splash zone."

Hope looked worried, "Splash Zone?"

I said nothing, but I drew my blades and walked in the middle of the circle of pantherons. They were red and blue, the red being skin, and the blue being synthetics. There were three of them. My plan of action was obvious. Take out the one closest to me, and take out the other two at once. Plan in mind, I lunged at the closest beast, and drove my blades into its neck, before pulling them out and thrusting at the other two pantherons, embedding my blades to the hilt in their skulls. I wrenched out my blades, flung the blood off, and turned back to Hope and Vanille.

"See, too easy. Let's go." And with that, I started towards the entrance to the Vestige itself.

As we got closer, Hope asked Vanille, "Aren't you scared?"

She paused, as if pondering his question before answering, "No, not so much."

"You really don't get it."

She spun on her heel, and glared at him before speaking, "Pulse Fal'Cie, and l'Cie are very bad news. That's why Cocoon kicked them out. Live too close to the Fal'Cie? One-way trip to Pulse, the world below. That's the Purge in a nutshell."

Hope yelled back, "If they catch us here, they'll Purge us too. And then-"

She cut him off. "What's your problem?"

"What's my-Pulse is hell on Earth!" They both stood there, and I wish I had popcorn..at least until she enveloped him in a hug.

"We'll be okay! Calm down!"

He pulled away from her before speaking coldly, "Get off me." I now knew what I looked like when I did my similar emo snarl, except it wasn't that weak and pathetic.

As he walked away we could hear Snow cry out. "Serah? Can you hear me? Where are you?"

I pushed Hope towards the door. "Let's go find that 'roid monkey, eh?"

He turned back towards me, as if just realizing I was there. "Who are you again?"

I walked towards the door and spoke, "Stryke." I tried to open it, and remembered it was locked right when I pushed the button. "Guys, it's locked, but I got a feeling that dumbass will find a way to open it. In the meantime, take a break. You'll need it." I muttered that last part, making it inaudible. I took the time to take a much-needed nap for my sore body.

* * *

And that's when I was rudely awakened once again by Snow, "Hang on baby! Your hero's on the way!" I sighed at his words and saw the door was unlocked. Hope and Vanille looked around, and Hope spoke with venom.

"He is here...calling himself a hero."

Vanille looked at him, "He's coming this way."

"What should I do?"

"What you need to do."

"But nothing I say will change what happened."

Vanille spoke again, and I almost punched her. "We could just run away."

"Bullshit! We're not running now. Hell no." I said harshly.

They paid me no heed, but I realized that the direction they took would farther into the Vestige. I smirked as I followed close behind, thankful for the nap and the cardiovascular activities I did prior to this. I was exhausted, and running on fumes. We emerged in a familiar walkway. When we came to the center we'd be in for a rough fight. My blades were feeling like lead in my hands. When we make it to the Fal'Cie, I'll be filled with vigor. We only have a few feet left to go. I can do it.

"Woah." Hope breathed as he took in the architecture around him. It was impressive, I must say, though I was always on guard. I only shook slightly when we heard an inhuman roar ring out all around us. Cie'th, l'Cie who failed their focus turned into these mindless ghouls. They will keep coming and try to kill us until we do so much damage to their bodies, that they die.

Hope cringed. "Wh-what are they?"

Vanille answered. "Cie'th. L'Cie who failed. This is what happens-when l'Cie don't complete the focus the Fal'Cie gave them." I gripped my blades tightly as I spoke.

"Hope, aim for their legs, and try to cripple them. I'll try to finish them off that way. Makes 'em easier targets." Hope nodded. "Vanille, when you trap one with your binding rod, let me or Hope know. We'll finish it.

"Got it." I didn't say another word as they began to converge on us. That's when we heard another yell, except this one was filled with rage. We turned to see Snow sprinting full speed at the Cie'th, and rolling past it. We all went back to back, and I spoke to Snow.

"Snow, aim for the legs first, then finish them."

He nodded, "Got it, let's even these odds!"

The Cie'th all closed in at once. I slashed at the legs of the two who converged on me, and they dropped like a sack of potatoes off a cart. I stabbed both swords in their heads, and after a few seconds they stopped flailing. That was it for me. My blades clattered to the floor, and I sunk to my knees. The exhaustion won over in this struggle to fight. My arms wouldn't listen to me. I had fought since the train with few breaks. I don't count passing out a break. I heard the sounds of struggle around me, but I didn't stand. Then I heard something. It sounded like someone was calling out to me. No, not calling, screaming my name. The voice was laced with pain, but I knew it. I heard it once today already. Lightning. A new sense of vigor filled me, and I rose to my feet. I snatched up my blades, and turned back towards the fight.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!" I yelled defiantly as I charged into the remaining Cie'th, cutting them apart. I tore into them, black bar with the consistency of tar drained from their bodies. I felt arms try to pull me back, and a voice say something about how they're dead. I thrashed violently for a few minutes, but eventually succumbed to the strong hold. When I was put down, the roar in my ears was fading, and all sense was returning. I sheathed my blades, and turned back towards them.

"Did you hear her?"

They looked at me with equal faces of confusion. "Hear who?"

"Was I supposed to hear something?"

"Do you mean Serah?"

I shook my head at them and said, "Nevermind, it's just my brain screwing with me. Let's keep moving."

Snow turned back to the kids, and spoke in a voice a mother hen would approve of, "How'd you get in here? You gotta leave." Hope and Vanille stayed quiet, like children who got stealing a cookie. Snow sighed, then continued, "Okay listen. Find someplace to hide and keep quiet. Once I find Serah, we'll all leave together. You'll be home in time for dinner." he finished and smirked as he walked down a pathway. "Stryke, on me."

I heard Hope grit out, "You-" He was interrupted.

"Wait! Who's Serah?" Vanille asked slowly.

"My wife. Future wife that is. She's a Pulse l'Cie."

Vanille looked like she instantly regretted asking. "Oh, no."

"She's here somewhere, along with the Fal'Cie. I gotta find her and set her free!"

I drawled, "And you're a poet, but you didn't even know it."

Hope snapped, "What's wrong with you?! Why do you want to help a l'Cie? They're the enemy!" His voice began to crack. "How can you save a l'Cie and not...and not...that's insane!"

"Heh, probably. But I gotta do something right? I'll be back." he ran towards the door, me in tow. I was of course lagging. My magical that had suddenly appeared was now draining considerably. He then stopped, and I threw him a questioning glance, just wanting to get this over with.

He looked at me, "Probably shouldn't leave them alone." I nodded and motioned for him to go back.

"I'll...stay here." He nodded and ran back towards him. I could every word he said.

"Hey again."

I heard Vanille answer him, "Hey. Let's go with them." I knew that was directed at Hope. He must've replied, but I didn't catch it. "You gotta talk to him Hope. If you miss this chance, you'll regret it forever."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Let's go!" Snow yelled as I heard him swiftly advance. I straightened up and began moving once more. My legs and back protested loudly, but I bit through it. I bit through it, and ran. We all piled on one elevator, and saw a sight that would end in sadness as we descended. Serah Farron in her sister's arms while Sazh watched them. I felt another thing inside me though, and the only thing I could label as, was relief. Relied that Lightning was alright, and that scream was my imagination.

Snow called out, "Serah!" All three of them turned in our direction. I didn't say anything, but whipped out the potion that was in my pocket and ran from the platform with the others to get to her.

"Lightning, is she alright? Is she in need of a healing agent?" I asked, potion in hand.

She took it from me and said, "Thank you, it might help in some way." Her voice was soft, and void of emotion, as expected. She held to Serah's lips and she slowly drank it. Serah looked like a younger version of her sister. Not the same hair style though. Serah had a pigtail on the side of her hair while Lightning's just flowed over her shoulder. Lightning's eyes were also little darker than her sister's though, but I know that was from many reasons. When Snow made it over, and when she drained the potion dry, he took her hand in his as he spoke.

"Serah."

"Is that...my hero?" She smiled softly. Snow brought her hand to his forehead, and held it clasped in his hands. Lightning glared at him slightly, but that was to be expected from her.

"Let's get you out of here." Snow said.

"Hands off. I'm taking her home." Lightning said.

"Sis, I-"

"I'm not your sister! You couldn't protect her! It's your fault she-" She got interrupted.

"You can save us." Serah said softly.

"Serah?" Lightning looked back to her.

"You can save us. Protect us all. Save...Cocoon.

"Save Cocoon? Serah? That was your Focus?" With each question, her composer broke slightly more.

"Anything. I'll do anything. Leave it to me-you'll see. I'll protect Cocoon! I'll save everyone!" Snow was practically shouting.

"Somehow, I'll make things right."

I took that moment to speak. "I don't know you, but I'll give everything I got to protect Cocoon."

Snow smirked lovingly at her. "You just relax."

Serah's features eased as she spoke, "Thank you." She then began glowing ethereal blue, and she started floating.

"Serah!" Lightning exclaimed. We all watched as she floated higher, then slowly turned into complete crystal. A single tear escaped her eye, and that too slid off, turning into a tear shaped crystal. It landed right in Snow's open palm.

"Serah! Serah!" he called to her, as if that would stop the transformation.

"Why is she turning to crystal?" Vanille asked, breaking the harrowed silence.

I answered her. "She completed her Focus. the Fal'Cie is granting her eternal life, and her body's turning to crystal."

"Just like the stories say." Sazh said softly.

"Serah...sweet dreams." Snow said quietly.

Lightning took instance offense. "Sweet dreams? She's not sleeping!" She grabbed his coat. "Serah's...she's-" She pushed Snow back. Her voice was as broken as I'd heard it.

Snow blundered along. "She's alive!"

"No!" Lightning snapped.

"The legend! Remember the legend! L'Cie who fulfill their Focus, turn to crystal and gain eternal life! It's the same with Serah! Eternal life! She's not dead! Serah's my bride-to-be. I promised I would be Her's forever! I don't care how many years I have to wait-"

Lightning didn't even give him a chance to finish as she launched a right hook straight at his jaw and knocked all six feet of him to the ground.

I mumbled under my breath, "There's the Lightning we all know and love."

"It's over! Open your eyes and face reality!" that's when the earthquake hit.

Vanille asked, "What now?"

Sazh spoke, "The army!"

That meant this was a Sanctum Strike. Why couldn't Cocoon be a normal planet? I fell to the floor, and didn't move until it was over. When the ground finally stopped moving, I looked at the door to the Fal'Cie, and saw it unlocked. I moved forward at a brisk pace. This would be the moment where my destiny was chosen. Snow was following right behind.

"Hey, kid, trench coat, where you two going?" Sazh yelled.

I didn't bother turning around. "Got a hot date with the Fal'Cie, you guys coming or not?"

Snow replied in kind, "Got some things to talk about with the Fal'Cie."

"What? You gonna ask it for help her? Are you out of damn mind? That thing wants to chew us up, and spit us out!"

"Well, what do you want me to do?!"

I was almost at the door. "Hey guys, could you scream a little louder please? I don't think it knows we're here yet. I mean honestly, we're dead anyway. Don't you want to die with your balls at least? Go down fighting a Fal'Cie? Seems better to me than falling to Pulse at a million MPH!"

My words must have sparked something, 'cause Lightning and Snow were the first to walk up, followed by Sazh, then finally, Hope and Vanille brought up the rear.

When we reached the large antechamber, it was pitch black, and Hope spoke, "So, this is the Fal'Cie?" I nodded. It looked like a giant synthetic brain.

Snow began speaking to it, "Serah's a crystal now. You gave her a Focus, and she did it. You got what you wanted! Now let her go!" The brain gave no response. He slumped to his and begged it. "Please. Turn her back! I'll be your l'Cie instead!" No answer.

Me and Lightning both drew our swords as she spoke, "Fine, you go on begging. Like this thing gives a fuck what we want!" Her words gave me strength, and I slashed and cut at the metal casing in front of me, working away at it with her.

"Lightning! Stryke!" Snow yelled.

"It's this thing's fault that the Purge started and it's people who are dying. Serah told us to save Cocoon. That means this thing needs to die!"

I cut in. "All the innocents that were slaughtered like cattle died because of this. I'll avenge them all by ending it!" Everyone looked at us, and then to the floor as it lit up. All the lights started flickering on, and the metal casing, slowly opened. In front of us loomed the Fal'Cie. A crystal heart, and metallic limbs. Even now I can't describe it other than it was horrific.

"Finally got through to you, huh? Let's dance you synthetic, crystal hearted whore! I'm your Prom date you ugly sack of shit!" I hurled obscenities at it as it took its sweet time to begin the fight.

My swords drawn, I called out, "Sazh, focus fire on the heart! Lightning, you and Snow take on the Manipulator of the left, I got the one on the right! Let's go!" I didn't hear any protests as I hacked at the right Manipulator, slashing off chunks, and just utterly crippling it. After about five minutes, I slashed my blades in a scissors pattern, cutting right through the arm. I turned back to Lightning and Snow, and saw that they had made short work of that Manipulator. We turned all attention back to the crystal heart, and we decimated it. Me and Lightning sliced off chunks every time our blades passed through. Snow pounded it into submission. Sazh, with each barrage of bullets, they sunk in further. The ending was near. With precise synchronization, me and Lightning both turned in opposite directions and brought our blades in a x-pattern across the face of the crystal. The result was the thing breaking into chunks. I sheathed my blades and made one more date joke.

"Hey Falcy, your dumped!"

With that, what was left of its heart glowed brightly, and the next thing I knew, I was floating in a dark void. I looked around and saw my comrades in similar states.

"Where are we?" Lightning asked.

Then I heard a bell gong, and every time it sounded, the area lit up.

"What's going on?" Snow wondered aloud. That's when we saw it, the true face of the Fal'Cie. Demonic and synthetic. Everything was metal and glowed with blue flame. These tendrils came out of nowhere, and attached themselves to us, restraining us. No matter how hard we fought back, they kept us still. I knew what was happening. Fal'Cie branding. Light shot out from its fingertips, and that's when I felt it. Immense pain coming from my back. The burning sensation didn't let up, and it didn't stop. I could feel where it started, at the nape of my neck, to where it ended, at the small of my back. I held in my screams of agony. I bit my tongue till it bled profusely. I would not show weakness. I hissed and struggled, but I didn't yell. How much time had passed? It felt like hours. This brand being burned into me. I vomited from the pain, and I prayed no one heard. Eventually, I passed out. I couldn't bear it any longer. I lost my grip entirely. And as I sunk back into my subconscious, I heard Lightning screaming once more.

**Good, bad? Let me know. Please R&amp;R, favorite and/or follow, and flame to hell**


	6. Chapter VI: My Focus and a Crystal Lake

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm back with the next chapter obviously, and you people should be thankful. I stayed up until 4 AM to finish the last one for you guys because I didn't think I'd have enough time today. Guess I was proved wrong. So here you go. Also, I don't own Final Fantasy XIII, though that friend of mine is very close to snatching-I mean acquiring-it, so that may hopefully change. Hopefully. Anyway, here's the next chapter, please R&amp;R, favorite and/or follow, and flame me to the pits of Tartarus.  
Cheers,  
Stryke  
**

**Chapter VI: My Focus and a Crystal Lake  
**

Now, I knew what everyone's Focus would be. I knew it, but that didn't seem to dawn on my Focus, because it was something I've never seen before. I might as well tell you what it was.

_I'm inside a half-circle, and there's barely any width to it. There's, maybe, fifteen feet of walkway in front of me, then it just drops into the ocean. I look around, and see Lightning on the ground, severe cuts and bruises cover her body. She's bleeding from her nose and her forehead as well. Her breathing is labored, and she can't seem to stand, try as she might. Then I turn to the left, and see this long silver-haired man. He wasn't with Sanctum, his black coat wasn't loke anything I'd seen before. In his hand, he wielded a giant katana that must have been seven feet long. He had a height of at least six feet, and he was walking slowly towards Lightning. He raised his sword, about to strike. I leaped at him, and caught the sword in my gut. I looked at him and smirked, then fell to my knees. Everything went white, and I exhaled my last breath slowly, before falling back, the sword's hilt pointing skyward._

That was my Focus. To die protecting Lightning. It was so clear, it looked like it had come from an Oracle Drive. That was nothing like the choppy, hard to make out Focus everyone else had. Why was mine different and so-. Then it came to me. _I'm not from this world. The person who chose me must've altered it for me alone. He added a place, an enemy, and a situation. All he needed was a hero to carry it out. Me. That's what he chose me for. He wants me to complete this insane Focus that he came up with for his amusement? Okay, now I really hate him!_

My eyes shot open, and I gasped as I took in my surroundings. We were all here, laying on solid crystal. This was once Lake Bresha, now it was a giant solid crystal. It was beautiful in the game, and even more so in real life. I looked at the various forms of my friends, and saw all of them passed out.

Snow then stirred, and yelled, "Serah!"

I guess his cry roused the others, because slowly, one by one, they sat up. I was already on my feet, so I began helping people up. I pulled Snow to his feet, then Sazh. When I offered Lightning, she pushed my hand aside and got up on her own. Shoud've expected that from her. I grabbed Hope by the back of his shirt, and yanked him up. Vanille stood on her own.

Snow was the first to break the silence, "Is this...for real?"

As everyone took in the sights around them, I merely leaned against what was a giant wave, waiting for them to regain themselves. Hope had sat back down, and he held his head in the crook of his arm.

I shook my head and muttered, "Pitiful."

Sazh stated the obvious, "This must be...Lake Bresha?" He looked up, as did I, and saw six holes in the crystal that once was a great lake. "I guess we fell from up there, and the lake turned to crystal? Help me out here! I mean, did the Fal'Cie do this? How in the world did we end up here?"

"How the hell should I know?" Lightning replied.

Vanilled sank to her knees, once again seemingly unaware of our conversation, "We're alive. How?"

Snow exclaimed, "Serah! No one survives a fall from that high, not without a miracle. Serah saved is!"

"Serah? Listen it's all your fault she got-" Lightning began.

"Hate to interrupt you Lightning, but we got bigger problems." I pointed behind her.

She turned around and there was a hulking Cie'th Ghast coming up on us.

Sazh began running around and scurrying, "Hey, hey, hey, hey!"

I rushed forward, blades drawn, and blocked the monster's fist that was aimed at Lightning with both blades forming a x. "Watch out!" I gritted my teeth, and shoved it off. I then felt a strange, freezing sensation coming from my back. It felt like it was going to burst. I couldn't hold it in any longer. An ice bolt erupted from my right hand, hitting the monstrosity and freezing it on the spot. I looked down at myself and smirked. "Larger the brand, larger the bad-ass."

Hope decided to stand up at that point, and got in my face, "You used magic! You used the power of a l'Cie! The Fal'Cie cursed us, we're l'Cie now!"

More Ghasts began surrounding us. Lightning drew her gunblade, slowly unfolding it. It looked fucking awesome. "Right." That was her only reply.

"Okay, three of them. Lightning, take the center one. Snow, take the one on the right, and I'll take the one on the left. Hope and Vanille, knit a sweater. Sazh, sorry to stick you with the kids, but someone has to make sure they don't kill themselves with knitting tools." I didn't say another word, as we jumped into the fight. I fought toe-to-toe with the Ghast, slicing at its legs. When it stumbled after the third slice, it attempted to punch me. As if I let it get that far. I side-stepped the left hook, and sliced through the rotten flesh and bone, severing the arm at its elbow. I reversed my grip on the blades, leaped at the abomination, stabbed my swords to the hilt in its chest, and ripped down with all my strength. I jumped away, and saw black blood and organs slip out from the wounds. The smell was worth than the stench of death, if that was possible. The Ghast fell to its knees, and I walked slowly towards it. I raised my left blade and slashed it's neck horizontally, sending more black blood seeping out of its body. I slowly sheathed the blades, and when The hilt met the sheath, the miserable creature's head fell from its shoulders. Lightning had already killed the Ghast she was fighting, and from the way Snow was stomping on his, I guessed he was finishing up.

Snow then looked at his brand which was on his right forearm. "So we really are l'Cie." Lightning rolled her eyes.

Sazh looked down at his brand, which was on his chest and sighed. "Looks like it."

Snow turned his attention to Vanille. "You too?"

She nodded. "Yep, right here." She turned to the side and adjusted her skirt. On her upper outer right thigh, the middle of the brand was shown. From the way it angled, and from how high it was, I guessed that it began close to her ass.

Snow blinked a couple of times, "O-kay."

"L'Cie to the last." Lightning stated, colder than usual. Hope sank to his knees once more. A frequent occurrence for him.

"Why me? I don't even know you people! But you have to go and attack that thing? Just leave me alone! It's your fault-It's your fault my-! You could've-!" He stood hastily to his feet, and advanced on Snow. "All of this is your and Serah's fau-" I swiftly walked up to him, grabbed his shoulder, spun him around, and punched him straight in the mouth. He fell backwards onto the floor, holding his mouth and groaning in pain.

"All of us are l'Cie! We've all lost people we care about! You're not the only one here who's dreading what's going to happen! Shut the fuck up, and stop pissing and moaning over shit you have no control over! That will only get you killed, left behind, or accidentally pushed off a cliff by me because of an unexplainable and sudden muscle spasm! And for your own selfish sake, don't blame people who can kick your ass in a second straight or men and women that are close to people who can kick your ass in a second straight. In fact, the only reason why you haven't had the shit beat out of you yet, is that it's too easy." I glared at him, and then looked around me to find everyone staring at me. When I met their gaze, they acted like they were admiring the crystals or whistling. Except for Lightning of course. When my eyes found her's, she merely quirked an eyebrow at my outburst. I answered her silent question. "Kid wouldn't shut up about himself when we're all going through something. Didn't it piss you off too?"

She looked like she was about to answer when Hope started to shake slightly, and I slowly came to terms with the fact that he was just kid who recently lost his mother. "I'm sorry Hope for punching you, but what I said about everyone going through something is true."

Vanille came to him, and kneeled next to him, "Everything is going to be alright. You'll see. Come on." She pulled him to his feet. "Off we go."

I sighed before muttering under my breath, "How did no one punch you like that in the game, Hope?"

Snow looked at his brand again. "L'Cie, huh?"

"Yep. We're all playing for team Pulse now. Why me?" Sazh said in an aggravated tone. I just kept up with Lightning at the head of the group, itching for a fight.

"Trust the soldier to keep her cool through this mess." Sazh mumbled.

"Okay, if we don't know our Focus, how do we complete it?" Lightning asked. My Focus flashed inside my skull once more. It was clear as daybreak, I have to die for Lightning.

Vanille answered, "I think...I saw it."

"Saw what?"

"That is how a Focus comes down, people. The Fal'Cie? They don't spell it out with clear-cut instructions. All you get is a hazy glimpse." Sazh stated. If I was that lucky. At least I would die for a beautiful woman. Christ. "Well, that's what they say. You know, legends and all."

Lightning turned towards Hope, "Did you see anything?"

"I uh-I just...it's all kind of foggy but...I saw this big-I mean towering"

"W-w-wait a minute. Hold on now. Did we all have the same dream?" Sazh asked.

Lightning and Snow said in unison. "Ragnarok."

"So, we all saw the same dream. We all heard that same voice."

"You mean that was our Focus? But, how are we supposed to know what to do from that?" Hope asked.

"That's the tricky part. The dream's the only hint the Fal'Cie gives us. Figuring out what to do with it-that's our job!" Vanille spoke.

"Okay, okay...We're Pulse l'Cie, right? Enemies of Cocoon! So, does that mean our Focus is-? Are we supposed to-?" Sazh was interrupted.

"Save her." Snow said.

"Say what?"

"Our Focus is to protect Cocoon."

"Really? Okay, and why's that?" Vanille asked again.

"Serah told us. Let's do it. We're all in this together. I'm going to look for Serah. She ought to be nearby."

"I'll come too! Wait!"

"Sheesh, that boy can't stay still." Sazh complained as he followed.

"Really..." Hope muttered.

I spoke, "Hey Lightning, I saw something different." She turned towards me. "It was hazy, but I saw someone in a black coat with a large katana. I fought him with the help of an obscure figure. Then I saw blood. I guess my Focus is to kill this silver-haired villain with the help of someone who is unknown." I didn't want to lie to her, but I knew the look she'd give me if I told her how my focus was to die for her. Besides, I might even take that bastard with me when he runs me through.

"That is interesting...well, your best bet is to stick with us. Maybe our Focuses are intertwined somehow." I looked at her, and I nodded. I was wishing for that dream I had hours before to be real with more intensity every five seconds. Lightning truly was beautiful. Even her cold steely blue eyes I found captivating. I shook my head slightly. Falling for a video game character...if Nelly knew, she'd never let me live it down. I then realized what I had just thought. Oh, Nelly. You're probably worried sick. Lightning arched an eyebrow at me, and I realized that I had been staring at her.

"It's nothing Lightning. Just thinking about who that other person might be is all. Let's get going, shall we?" She didn't look convinced, but she nodded. I followed her as she walked to catch up to the others. I lagged behind for an obvious reason to any guy: I might as well enjoy the view and keep my mind off dying. I regained my focus though, when we came to pieces of metal stuck in the crystal that hung over a giant cliff. I seemed to be the only one who took my time as I jumped to platforms in reach. Everyone else just jumped across like they were steps. When I finally came to the other side though, my eyes zoomed in on the desired and perfect sight.

Snow broke my concentration AGAIN. "This just might work. Magic may be cursed, but it makes us stronger, doesn't it? What's to stop us from putting it to good use?"

"The fact that if you use too much at a time, you could end up dead comes to mind." I spoke. He merely shrugged me off, muttering something about me needing to learn to live a little. I sighed, which was becoming a normal occurrence for me. When did I become so much like the old man, Sazh?

"I wonder what happened to everyone else." Vanille thought aloud. I shrugged not really wanting to answer her.

When we rounded a bend, Snow began bringing up a plan, which wasn't really much of a plan. "We fight it! Ragnarok! That's the reason we're l'Cie. To stop it-to keep Cocoon safe!"

"Yeah, why don't you give us one reason to believe that? One reason." Sazh pointed at Snow.

"Serah. She said to protect Cocoon, and then she turned to crystal. That's the proof right there. She completed her Focus! That means ours is to save Cocoon. Serah's Fal'Cie was the same as ours. Our Focus has got to be the same. We were chosen to be guardians, to defeat Ragnarok! It makes sense!"

"The hell it does! You're grasping at straws, son! Pulse Fal'Cie are Cocoon's enemies. We just got recruited by one of them. If I were a betting man...I'd put us on the other side." Sazh said to Snow.

"So Serah's an enemy too? Well I don't buy it!" He walked over to Lightning. "We have the power to save Cocoon. If we work together and carry out our Focus-"

Lightning cut him off with a gunblade to the throat. "Our Focus?! The Fal'Cie took Serah from us, and you wanna help it?! Whose fucking side are you on?!"

Just then, a voice that sounded like it came through a mask shouted, "Freeze!" We all turned around, and found ourselves surrounded by PSICOM troops, who were obviously proud of themselves. "Place your hands behind your heads!" Everyone began to comply, but I merely put them up. "You've fallen off the Purge train?" He asked as he advanced towards us.

"Maybe." Lightning said.

"Are you talking back to me, bitch?!" The soldier got in her face, and pointed his gun at her breast.

"Nice gun." She smirked before snapping it out of his hand, knocking his legs out from under him, and finally kicking him into the air. He landed next to his yellow gas-masked friends. They converged on Lightning's location, so she she kicked her her gunblade into the air, jumped, caught it, and brought it down on a soldier's head, slicing it in two. Blood sprayed the blue ground, staining it. She then got into a ready position as they surrounded her. She slid under the legs of one, thrusting her blade between his legs before coming up in a roll, then made the universal gesture for, "come on." I guessed they forgot about the rest of us, as they tried to charge at Lightning. I didn't let them get half way there. There were eight of them, so I charged the middle. I stabbed my blades into the middle two, blood squirting into my eye. Six left. I turned to the right, dashed, cut down the first two that stood in my with horizontal slashes across their lower torso, eviscerating them entirely. I ran the last one on the right side through, before spinning him around as the ones on the left opened fire into the body. When the noise ended, I ripped my blades out of the body, and saw Lightning covered in blood, with two PSICOM Wardens still twitching on the ground next to her. There was two giant holes in their chest cavities. The third one fell on his back, as he tried to pull the trigger of his sub-machine gun. She freed his head from his shoulders long before his finger came close. I looked down at myself at that moment, and found my once black jacket was now a crimson leather jacket. I sighed, but it was bound to happen.

"I thought they'd be tougher than that, even for those two." Sazh said to himself. "These guys were PSICOM, yeah? Supposed to be the cream-of-the-crop."

"Yeah, but PSICOM's an anti-Pulse task force. Haven't fought a war in centuries. Bunch of rookie troops swinging around overpriced toys." Snow said with disgust.

"So, from what you're telling me, it sounds like a regular old soldier...has got more training than special forces." Sazh said with a smirk as he looked at Lightning.

"Nothing for us l'Cie to be afraid of." Snow smirked as well.

"Cut the shit. Their grunts might be green, but PSICOM's elites are cold-blooded beasts. They hit the field, and it's game over." Lightning scowled.

"Oh-oh! Then let's run away! Ciao!" Vanille ran off.

"He-hey wait!" Sazh called after her. His chocobo promptly flew from his afro and landed on his hand. "What's a man to do?" He went after her, followed by Snow, and then Hope.

I turned towards Lightning, "Wonder if this'll happen every time we turn a corner. Rant about our Focus, I mean. Well, your guys' Focus anyway."

She made a 'tch' noise before turning facing me. "Where did you learn how to fight, anyway? Never seen blades like those, and how you seem to cut a path through your enemies is something I haven't seen." The one time Lightning hadn't seen a particular style. What the hell do I say? I thought on it, and answered as truthfully as I could without giving away the fact that I'm from here.

"I just really do what comes to mind. No one showed it to me or taught me. I just focus on an enemy, and let my anger influence my movements. As for the blades, I found them on the train. They were just sitting in a half-opened box. I took a fancy to them, so I took them. Thought they were made by the Sanctum."

She shook her head slowly, "If they were, they must've been made the previous day." I shrugged, and gestured towards them.

"Might as well try to keep them out of trouble for the time being, eh?" She said nothing, but jogged towards the front of the group, me in tow. Lake Bresha was massive, but it was very beautiful when turned to crystal. Every so often, I glanced behind me to make sure our friends weren't lagging or lost entirely. We had a little ways to go before we found Serah.

"Weird, isn't it? All the fucked up ways to meet...might as well make introductions. I'm Snow-Snow Villiars. Short stuff?"

"Hope. Hope Estheim."

"What about her?" Vanille asked.

"Bodhum Security Regiment. She goes by 'Lightning'. Last name's Farron. First? Anybody's guess." Snow answered.

"Vanille" Vanille spoke.

"Sazh Katzroy. Good to meet you"

I spoke. "Stryke, with a y. I wouldn't make puns if I were you."

"Ah, it's not right. Why'd kids have to get dragged into this?" Sazh said sadly.

"I'll keep the kids out of trouble." Snow pointed at himself with his thumb. Sazh put an arm around his shoulder and laughed.

"Problem with that is, you're one of them." Sazh began walking away.

"Hey!" Snow said, his pride wounded.

"Trying to take on the Pulse Fal'Cie, that was our first mistake. Should've left it to the Sanctum." Sazh spoke, whether to Lightning or himself, it was hard to tell. "Why not? I mean, we've counted on the Sanctum's Fal'Cie for food, water...everything we've needed since the time we were born."

"Yeah, but if we did that, we wouldn't get to be one big happy, dysfunctional family." I said with a pout.

If he was about to reply, Snow cut him off. "Yeah, but you still helped us do it, why? There's gotta be a reason."

"There might've been. Not so sure anymore." Sazh walked at a brisk pace.

I sighed, "No one cares about family anymore."

Snow looked back at me with a smile, "Shut up Stryke. Don't gotta be a smart-ass."

I smirked, "But I do it so well." Lightning shook her head, and I knew her eyes were rolling. I didn't make anymore jests though as we ascended the inside of a crystal wave. "I wish I had a camera." I said under my breath.

We came across a pack of PSICOM pantherons, and Snow spoke,. "Guess they're hunting Purge survivors." The pack didn't seem to notice us, so I slowly drew my blades, and counted how many we were up against.

"Four of them, four of us who have actual weapons." I counted Snow's fist as weapons. "Add in l'Cie magic, so we can count the kids in...there's no need for a plan. Great." I smiled as I sprinted towards them. About thirty to forty seconds later, me and Lightning cleaned off our blades, Sazh blew on the barrels of his guns, Snow stood with one foot on the head of a pantheron and struck a heroic pose, and Hope and Vanille chatted about non-sensible things that didn't matter.

"That was a bit weak, huh? Expected something more from a pack." I said disappointed. "I mean, we didn't even have a plan except for, 'get 'em'. Wastes of space."

"Finally we agree on something." Lightning deadpanned. I smiled slightly, I was making progress. I then inwardly sighed as I realized how pathetic that sounded. I nodded in agreement, and we were on our feet once more, searching for the crystal mass known as Serah. That's when I saw it. A giant wreckage of a train. We were very close. We were practically standing on top of her.

"The train fell too. I wonder what else is down here." Vanille spoke.

I was the first one to see her, near the end of the wreckage. "I found her!" I called out. Everyone came running my way.

Lightning froze as soon as she saw her, "Serah." She breathed.

"Serah!" Snow shouted, bringing Lightning out of her trance. He sprinted full speed, and got on his knees when he was right in front of her. "Serah, I'll get you out of there!" He grabbed a piece of the train, and attempted to dig her out. I turned to Lightning, and saw in the corner of her right eye, a single tear, and I knew she was saying goodbye. I tore my gaze away, knowing she deserved a few moments to herself.

Vanille had grabbed a pry bar, and began helping Snow. "I'll help."

"Thanks."

Sazh picked up a metal pipe, and began to help as well. Hope just stood there. Lightning turned her back and began walking. I took one last look and followed.

"Lightning, Stryke! You're both just gonna leave her?" Snow asked.

"PSICOM'll be here soon. If they find us, we're all dead. You think Serah would want that? You think you know how she feels?" Lightning said before walking again. I was already near the train.

"If I leave her, then I'll never know. We'll be fine. I can handle anything they throw at us. No one will die. I'll protect Serah. And Cocoon!"

That made her snap. She walked towards him, and slugged his right cheek, making him fall to the floor once more.

"Does she look protected to you?" She asked.

The dumbass got back on his feet, and stared down at her, "I can save her!"

He hit the floor again. "What can you possibly do?"

He got on one knee, "Whatever it takes!" He spat out blood. Lightning raised her fist again, but let it drop to her side.

Sazh spoke in exasperation, "You two are hopeless. You just can't admit it. You want to stay as much as he does." Sazh said to Lightning, and then he walked towards me and whispered. "You take care of her, okay? Anyone can see she's way over the edge and plummeting. Seeing as you're the only one that she hasn't snapped or glared at, you'd be best for helping her. Besides kid, I have a feeling you'd do it anyway." I looked at him, but he had leaned against the wall, and acted like he was watching for enemies. A spotlight then illuminated him, and I cursed myself for forgetting the first boss in the game that wasn't a slouch.

"Woah, woah. No...no. No, no no! Not now!" Everyone drew their weapons, and I saw the bastard that almost killed me. The Manasvin Warden wanted some more punishment.

**Hey guys, so what'd you think. Good? Bad? Better or worse than the last one? Let me know. Please R&amp;R, follow and/or favorite, and flame.**


	7. Chapter VII: You Don't Fuck With a L'Cie

**A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, and I hope you enjoy this one even more. I have news to report. My friend, Garret finally stole-I mean talked Square Enix into giving me-the rights of ownership to Final Fantasy. In your face, Square Enix! I got it and you...oh. Sorry guys, turns out, they caught Garret...DAMN YOU SQUARE ENIIIIIIIIIIIIIIX! I guess all rights are theirs again.  
****Cheers,  
Stryke  
**

**Chapter VII: You Don't Fuck With a L'Cie**

The only thought that was going through my mind when I saw the battered Manasvin Warden was: I'm going to rip out your brain casing and gargle on your motor fluid, but not before inputting pain into your system and teaching you how to speak, so I can hear you beg for mercy, before I kill you slowly and painfully! Extreme? Maybe, but he threw me off his back, which nearly caused mine to snap. The Warden landed in front of us, and I drew my swords, smiling like a maniac.

"Hey, you remember me? Huh? I'm that guy you that gave you those cuts in your head. Nice way to repay me, throwing me off the train and all that. Well, you'll get yours for that. You don't fuck with a l'Cie, especially one as pissed off as I am. Let's go."

Snow shouted, "Hope, stand back! Sazh, look after him, okay?" Lightning, Snow, and Vanille joined me. Snow and Vanille looked at me, growing accustomed to me spitting out strategies, but the only thing that mattered to me, was this AI's destruction. I was stronger than I was, and I had magic. The only one I had used was a frost magic, but I had to have others. I thought about the train, and this thing attacking me, Lightning, and Sazh. It had the audacity to attack her. This miserable creation was going to fall by my hand, today. The electricity on my swords cackled fiercely as I grew closer. I could hear a roar in my ears, and I felt a horrible burning sensation coming from my back. It felt like it was covered in acid. My vision changed to crimson, and I dashed forward.

(A/N: If you don't like highly detailed battle sequences, blood, masochistic and sadistic themes even towards AI, or pure badassery(made it up) given by rage then you might want to skip to the bold letters that signify the end of the fight.)

I could hear someone yelling loudly, but it merged with the roaring in my ears. The searing pain from my back I ignored entirely, focusing on the warden. When I got near its hideous face, it split open, revealing a laser canon, and a white-hot stream coming right towards me. I jumped to the right, and felt a hot piece of metal impale my leg. I tumbled sideways, and laughed at the damage. The laser had clipped my right ankle, and the flesh was a charred mess. The bone was prominent through the black and brown meat. The stench coming off it should've made me reel, instead it made me cackle hysterically. I breathed in deeply through my nose.

"That all you got? My turn." I charged forward, ignoring the agonizing pain. At that moment I realized that I was actually enjoying it, and my smile deepened. The Warden's tail flew straight at my chest, and I made no move to dodge. I felt the cold steel thrust into my body. I could feel it in between my lungs, and nearly grazing my heart. I looked down, and saw blood pour like a flood. I merely threw my head back and laughed as hard as I could. Then, I brought both swords down on the tail, severing it. Black oil shot into my face and eyes, but I didn't even blink. I ran up what was left of the tail, and came to where its circuitry would be. Reversing my grip on my swords, I drove them to the hilt, the electricity visibly doing damage. I then grabbed the metal tip that was still embedded inside me with both hands, and ripped it out with all my might. My blood sprayed everything around me, and a pool was at my feet. My whole body became numb, and I continued laughing as I stabbed the Warden with its own tail repeatedly. It had stopped moving some time ago, but I didn't stop. I could see my blood-dyed ribs and ever slowing heart as I swung down with all my remaining might. People were screaming my name. It seemed far away. I then grew this feeling of being weightless for a short time before I crashed into something hard. The voices were now only an echo, as was my heartbeat. My vision had long since left me.

(**okay, you're clear of the gore. For those of you who read it, what'd you think?)**

Through the darkness, I heard a voice that was louder than the rest.

"Stryke!"

Who's that?

"Stryke! Stryke!"

Who's calling me?

"Stryke...please."

That voice...I know that voice. It's...

My eyes shot open, and harsh light attacked them. I coughed multiple times, and discovered it was blood that I was emptying from my lungs. I felt weak. Very weak. My head fell back, and as my vision cleared, I saw worried blue eyes looking down at me. Then a familiar face in an unfamiliar expression. Lightning Farron had an emotion of extreme worry and extreme sadness worn on her face. I slowly raised my right hand, and cupped it gently. Why did she look so sad and worried? She then did something very unexpected: she hugged me.

"You're back." She whispered. Etro, if this is a dream, don't you dare wake me.

"I'm back." I said weakly as I held her as tightly as I could, which wasn't that tight, because I could barely move my arms. She pulled away, and when I was about to ask what happened, I felt a blast of pain come from my cheek. I groaned, and heard Lightning yell.

"Don't you ever fucking do that again! What the hell were you thinking, taking it on by yourself? You practically died!"

I had no idea what she was taking about, so I did what I shouldn't have done: I asked, "What did I do? What happened?" I winced as I tried to sit up. "And why does my chest feel like it's smothered in sulfuric acid?" I realized that my jacket was laid over my chest. I moved it, and gasped. My shirt had been ripped to shreds, and in the center of my chest, a thick white line shined. The scar began right under my heart, and ended at the point right above my stomach. I turned towards her, "What the hell happened, Lightning?"

She gestured behind me. I slowly and painfully sat up, and turned my head slowly. Right behind me was the still smoking form of the Manasvin Warden. Its tail severed at the end, and the point stabbed in its head in between two familiar blades. However, the most shocking feature was the blood. It was everywhere. I looked at my hands, and found them almost black, and crusted.

"That's my blood, that's my blood. That is a lot of my blood." I felt nausea, but didn't have the need to retch. "Lightning, what the hell happened?"

She looked at me sadly, the anger gone. "You charged it with your swords drawn. We tried to help, but you kept yelling you had it. And by the time I realized you really didn't, it was too late. When you charged, it shot a laser at you, which you dodged last second. That caused your leg to be burned through to the bone. Then its tail flew straight towards your chest, and you didn't even try to dodge. you just kept laughing. You cut off the tail, and got on its head, where you impaled your swords. Then you tore out the tip of the tail, and began stabbing it repeatedly, laughing the whole while. By the time I got to you, you'd finished stabbing, and fell off the Warden. Vanille healed you where you fell, using magic. And Stryke, your brand was glowing bright red through your jacket throughout the entire fight. You were smoking when she finally managed to heal you." Her face slowly hardened, resuming the cold facade.

On the inside of me, everything was chaos. Panic and fear rose within me. I didn't remember any of it, just like the incident on the bridge. From what she was saying, it was like I was a sadist and a masochist. I couldn't take it. On the outside however, I built up my own facade. It looked like I was contemplating something. I had to get a grip, else this will end up controlling me. I began to slowly stop all my functions. Breathing, heart beating, brain activity, everything. I stopped everything, then let it resume slowly. I got up, and spoke.

"I can't remember it, and I'm glad for that. Thank you for staying out of the fight, I could-wouldn't be able to live if I knew that one of my friends had died because of me. I won't be that reckless again. Not when it puts your lives at stake." I turned towards Lightning, "We should get going."

She nodded, but Snow intercepted her. "You're leaving? With him in that condition? And with Serah down there?" I began limping slowly to the Manasvin Warden's remains, and pulled my swords out. I looked around for my sheathes, and found them where I regained consciousness. I put the blades in their sheathes, threw on my jacket, and secured the leather harness.

"We all want to help Serah too," Sazh began, and then sighed, "but without tools...we could be digging for days. The army's on our trail, and I agree with the kid, we gotta keep moving. For now." Sazh tried to reason with Snow.

"So I just abandon her and save myself?"

"What about your Focus? What happened to banding together and saving the world? Isn't that what you promised? Now you wanna forget it all and die right here? Snow? You're nothing but talk." Lightning began walking away from him.

"She's got a point, you know? Save Serah now and die, or run now, and save Serah and the World. I'll go with B, thank you." I bumped into his shoulder on the way by...which hurt like a bitch.

"Lightning!" Snow yelled through clenched teeth. "I'll do whatever it takes. I'll finish this Focus...and keep Serah safe. That's my promise."

"Great job so far." She said.

I turned back to him, "You are hammering the nails into your own coffin at record speed when you speak to her, you know that?" I then followed Lightning. The others soon followed. All except for Snow.

"Maybe we shouldn't have left him on his own." Vanille said as we fried to find a way out.

"He'll be fine. He's a 'hero', remember?" I said to her. She didn't seem convinced. Good.

"Guess all we can do is pray he makes it out okay." Sazh said, whether to himself or to one of us, it was once again hard to tell. "Kid, you doing alright?"

I turned slightly as I slightly limped, "I'm fine Sazh. He just got a lucky hit in."

"I was referring to you laughing your ass off while getting stabbed."

"My mental state is fine as well."

"Oh, I'm sure." He muttered.

Vanille spoke after some time had passed. "I hope Snow's okay."

"Vanille, the guy's built like an ox, he's fine."

We came to a giant cliff, and the only way across was by walking along this thick metal tube.

As soon as Sazh got on, he yelled at us, though I'm sure it was directed at me. "Do not shake the slippery tube, we cool on this? Do NOT shake the slippery tube."

Vanille attempted to help. "It's only scary if you look down. You should close your eyes.

Even from my spot in the back, I could hear Sazh yell like I was right next to him, "FUCK! THAT!" I just smiled and shook my head. The tube wasn't even slippery, and I was one limping. Though my leg didn't hurt anymore, I was still exhausted. When we made it to the other side, Vanille spoke to Hope.

"Still couldn't talk to him? You'll never get passed this if you don't say something."

"Words won't change anything. Next time we meet, he'll learn exactly how I feel." Yeah, he'll learn. He'll learn by the sharp point of a knife. That's when we saw a giant ship sticking out of the ground. Lightning looked at it for a second.

"Looks operational." She muttered before she jumped up to where the mounted machine gun was. She slashed it with her blade, and the thing went Rambo, firing randomly until it created a path forward by breaking the crystal that was blocking our path.

Hope covered his ears with his hands as he muttered, "Would it kill you to warn someone before you do that." I shook my again. "What?"

"Pitiful." Was my only response. We crossed the giant bridge and went through the hole Lightning had delicately put into the crystal. On the other side, Sazh started waving his hands around hurriedly and began pointing at something not in our sight. "What, did little Timmy fall in the well-shit." I said as I saw the creature that was very much like the Beta Behemoth I took down before Nora's death. This one was about twice as big however, and was slightly green. The Alpha Behemoth. I breathed in and out. I was exhausted, and had no arm strength. Luckily for us, it hadn't noticed us. "Lightning, Sazh, Vanille, and Hope...I'm going to be useless in this fight, but I can give advice as to how to kill it. The armor where his limbs connect to his body is softer than any other place on it. A successful downward strike would be enough to sever the limb completely. From there, impale his skull. Don't get hit, as you probably won't get back up." With that said, I limped back, and out of their way. I sat down, focused on the fight, and wished them luck. Especially Lightning.

I was pleased to see that they came up with a strategy quickly. Sazh and Hope were to distract it. Sazh, by shooting at its eyes; Hope, by hitting it continuously with his boomerang. Vanille was to trap one of its legs with her binding rod, allowing Lightning to have a better shot at its socket. I knew she didn't need it, but it made the kid feel like part of the team...yippee. I watched intently as their plan unfolded perfectly. I figured something would go wrong. I guess we finally got a streak of good luck. Sazh unloaded bullets at the Behemoth, hitting him directly in the eyes. Hope kept letting his boomerang fly, which actually hurt the thing, as blood started oozing from its nose. That was Hopes favorite target. When it tried to swipe at Sazh with its claw, Vanile let her binding rod loose, holding it on the ground. Lightning dashed forward, front flipped, and brought her blade down upon it. Her weapon cut right through the metal like butter. She stood facing away from it as she reversed her grip on the gunblade. When the Behemoth toppled over, she stabbed the blade behind her, embedding it to the hilt in the creature's skull.

"Badasses don't look at their own carnage." I mumbled to myself as I slowly stood. I nodded at them, and spoke, "I'm you're all on _my_ side. It'd be hell to fight you all at once." I got a grin or smirk from all of them, except Lightning. Her expression softened somewhat. Making progress at least. God, I am pathetic.

"Would you look at that, they're sending in cruisers." Sazh said as he looked down below us. "Primarch must be shitting bricks, sending ships like that."

"Right." I smirked slightly, but was amazed by the size of the damn thing. Glad it hasn't noticed us. We all crouched as we looked over the edge of the cliff, looking at the giant ass ship. It could barely fit in the space it had landed in. I shook my head slightly. PSICOM's elite recon squad marched out, and formed ranks.

"They must be hunting down Purge survivors." Sazh said.

"I hope everyone made it out okay." Vanille voiced, looking worried.

"So do I, kid. So do I. But nowhere is safe for them now. Damn it!" Sazh punched the crystal floor. "Just 'cause they shared a neighborhood with a Fal'Cie they didn't know was there...they get treated like Pulse-tainted rats."

"People really hate Pulse, don't they?" Vanille asked.

"Not _hate_, more like _fear. _Tens of millions of people...all scared of Pulse boogeymen. They'd be shaking in their beds every night if they knew...that l'Cie like us were around."

"But...they purged that entire town!" Vanille said, her eyes narrowed.

"It's crazy, I know. But the Sanctum Fal'Cie did nothing to stop it. Up until now, Eden's always stepped in...to correct their errors in judgement. Guess humans aren't worth the effort. Figure they'll let us just kill each other off."

"L'Cie are not human." Hope growled.

"Listen, you, that's enough!" Vanille grabbed his hand, but slowly let go as she saw the top of his brand, peeking out from his gloved hand. "We're still alive, that's something!"

That's when the ground began shaking. "What?" Lightning asked.

"Where is it?" Sazh asked. We were all looking around us.

"I don't know." Hope answered.

"You're a big help." I replied, hastily looking around.

"There!" Lightning pointed to our right, and five PSICOM war birds zoomed around the corner, and headed towards the cruiser. "They're sealing off the area. They're trying to trap the stragglers. We gotta get moving before we're caught in the net."

"You're right, and you'll move faster if you don't have someone slowing you down." I said.

"You're not pulling that shit, kid, you're coming with us." Sazh said, then lowered his voice. "Do you not remember what I said to you earlier?"

"That's why I gotta be the distraction. They're on their way, and you'll the perfect chance of escaping."

"Fuck that." Lightning said as she turned towards me. "My sister's idiot boyfriend may throw his life away at any chance, but you're not him. Besides, if you don't get moving, than I will personally kick your ass all the way till we're safe. Now, your choice." I know she wasn't kidding about that.

"How could I refuse moving after such a wonderful intimidation?" I asked as I hastily limped in the direction where I knew our destination lay. We moved forward for quite some time, our path twisting or turning only a few times. When we came across a ship half buried in crystal, Sazh sighed softly.

"If only it wasn't busted. That would've definitely made things easier." I nodded in agreement.

"Life's not out to make things easier." I said, genuinely wishing that the ship was operational.

"Well I guess it's for the best. We would've been easy targets on that thing." We came to mountain made of crystal, and I knew we had to ascend. Great. Lightning went first, I went second, then Sazh, then Vanille, and finally Hope. I stumbled a few times on the way up, and heard Sazh begin to complain.

"Do we have to take this route? I'm too old for this." A few minutes later, he spoke, "Whew, how high is this thing? I don't think I'm going to make it. I may be a l'Cie, but O aint getting any younger."

"Sazh, you're not even forty, stop acting like you're a hundred." I said, nearly slipping off.

If he heard me, he didn't let on. "The years catch up with you." Lightning had already made it to the top, and was on the move.

"Sazh, shut up and get moving." I said as I finally climbed over the top ledge, hurrying after her.

Finally the rest of them caught up, and Vanille looked about with eyes filled with wonder. "Woah, the whole place is crystal!" I had to agree with her; the whole crystalline lake, frozen in stasis was nothing compared to the crystal waterfall in front of us.

"I wonder what it'd be like. To become a crystal, I mean." Sazh said.

"You're going to complete your Focus?" Vanille asked.

"Maybe, if I knew what it was. I probably don't want to know."

I turned to him, "Whatever it is, I'd bet it's better than being a Cie'th."

"Hey, Lightning. Did Serah say anything to you about her Focus?" Vanille asked. I winced. Lightning grabbed the necklace around her neck. It just happened to be a lightning bolt...cute.

"Nothing." She said softly.

Vanille tried to pit her mind at ease, "You know what? She probably didn't want to worry you."

"Or she just didn't think she could trust me." Lightning turned away and began walking. I smacked Vanille upside the head.

"Nice one, toots." I tried to catch up to Lightning. I wanted to comfort her in some way, but knew her pride wouldn't allow it. She'd assume I thought she was weak, so I kept my mouth shut, and did my best to match her pace.

Sazh finally broke the silence, "Listen you, there's no need to be all negative."

Lightning ignored him, but stopped when we came to these ruins. The Gates of Antiquity. In real life, these massive stone ruins were much more impressive. I put my hand on the side of the entrance.

"This looks hand carved, and it's flawless. Even though it's crumbling, the carvings are still readable. Look at the size of this thing! It must've taken years to build and shape it, let alone carve it. I mean, even the doors are hand carved. I just can't believe the amount of craftsmanshi-" I was cut off by the sound of a fire spell, and the doors that I was rambling about, burned to ash in front of my face.

Sazh put a hand on my shoulder, "Hey look, I made an entrance. How long did that take me, ten seconds? Nine at the least and eleven tops?" He looked at me, with a smirk. "Kid, you should really pick your jaw off the floor. I mean, don't want anyone walking on your tongue, right?" I snap my mouth closed and glared at him.

He started laughing to himself as everyone entered. Not. Cool.


	8. Chapter VIII

**A/N: Hey, still fighting for ownership of FFXIII, and Square Enix is a stubborn company. I even offered to let me have only 1/16 ownership, but no. Stubborn little mdjdjdjdjdjsdkf*continues grumbling. Anyway, I'm on the edge, and I'm contemplating stealing it outright. Who's with me?**

***cricket cricket**

**Anyone at all? Anyone?**

***belch**

**Well you screw you too. I'll get on with the chapter and shut up now. Hope you all enjoy. Please R&amp;R, follow and/or favorite, and flame me to death.  
Cheers,  
Stryke**

**Chapter VIII: Hand Carved Ruins, Thoughts on Intercourse Before Marriage, and the Sex-Life of a Flan:**

Let's get one thing straight, I am not mentally ill in any way, shape, or form. However, in my mind's constant need to think, a topic that most people would do their best to stay away from popped into my mind. How Flans perform sexual intercourse. I will do my best to explain why. It started because of me staring once more at Lightning's ass. My mind flew straight into the gutter from there. I shook my head multiple times after about ten to fifteen minutes. _Get a hold of yourself, Icarus. This is a very bad time for arousal. Just think, and do what you do best. Let's recite the Periodic Table of Elements together. Here we go. Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen...oxygen that she'll inhale deeply and hurriedly when I-Stop it! Okay, new topic. Think about...Flans! Yes, Flans! How do they procreate, anyway? They're gelatinous blobs with arms, eyes, and mouths for God's sake! I mean, they have no reproductive organs at all. Or do they? If they do, then they must be hidden within the gelatinous mass. And if they are, how do you tell the male from the female? Or maybe the Flans split apart, forming smaller Flans. I mean, they can put themselves together to form a giant Flan, so can the process be reversed? Hmm, I'm going to have to bring this theory to monster biologists. This is a fascinating topic._ I stopped walking, and nearly wrinkled my nose. _Did I seriously just think about the sex-life of a Flan...why do I feel kinda...dirty? And how does Lightning sway like that, I-Gah! Flans!_

Thankfully, my thoughts were interrupted by Sazh...and another Alpha Behemoth. "That thing looks familiar. De ja vu, anyone?" I ignored him, and sized up the Behemoth in front of us. Red eyes glared at us, waiting for us-daring us-to take another step forward. It seemed like it would only attack if we moved first. Perfect time for a strategy. I felt my back go numb, and knew what was coming. I held it in as I shouted instructions.

"Lightning, concentrated attacks on the shoulder, but wait for the right moment. I'm stepping in." I slowly moved forward.

"With that leg?" She narrowed her eyes, but they were focused on the enemy.

"Don't worry, I have no need for legs for what I'm about to do. Just wait for the right moment." I pointed my right palm towards the monster, and felt a pressure build beneath the skin. Breathing steadily, I concentrated on forcing that pressure through my palm. A white stream shot out, shooting through the air and making contact with the Behemoth's right shoulder. A terrible migraine struck me, and I fell to my knees. I felt weak, cold sweat dripping into my eyes. I heard the echo of a sword coming into contact with metal, felt my heart ram against my chest, and saw blue eyes bathed in white light when I blinked or closed my eyes. _Come on Icarus, don't you dare stop now. Get up. Get up._ I got up on one knee. I'll be damned if I let anyone help me. _If she sees you like this, what will she think? Get up. Get up. GET UP! _I rose to my feet, albeit a little shakily. The migraine not letting up in the least. Now I know what it feels like when your head gets pounded repeatedly by a hammer. Looking down at my hands, I found them shaking. Clenching my fists, I slowly raised my head and my eyes widened. She was truly a goddess. Lightning had made short work of the Alpha Behemoth, and was cleaning off her gunblade. Now, for those of you reading, you're probably thinking, 'So what?'. Well, you don't see how I do. Where you see matted hair, cold steely eyes, and blood splattered clothes, I saw flowing roe-colored hair, captivating azure eyes, and clothing splattered by the blood of crushed enemies. She was a warrior goddess.

"Want to pick your jaw off the floor, kid? I mean, that's kinda creepy, staring at someone while there's a puddle of drool collecting by your feet." Sazh said softly. I could feel my face become warm, and I instantly snapped my mouth shut. Glaring, I readied another one of my famous retorts, but quickly dismissed it. Rather just get through the Gates, and kill everything we come across. One of these damn things will drop a potion, and fill my pockets full of Gil. With that thought in mind, I started forward once more, biting through the pain in my leg. Glancing around, I saw that interior was a lot less impressive than the exterior. Here's why. The interior looked as if a bomb went off inside of it. Fires burned and once great columns were split into pieces and strewn about. We advanced up cracked stairs that led to a small PSICOM search team. Thank Etro for their poor peripheral vision. I studied what we were up against. One PSICOM Ranger and three floating Watchdrones. _Okay, magic could come in handy here, but I can't push myself. I'm already weak from that small blizzard spell. That Ranger might have a potion on him, hopefully. If I race towards him, then I'll have the element of surprise. How long will I have though? And will I be able to make it with this leg? Besides, will they even be able to cover me? _I shook my head at that last thought. _When did I start doubting my fellow l'Cie...my friends? They'll be able to do it, I know it. Okay, let's do this._

I whispered, as I crouched, "Guys, I need you to cover me. I'm going to sprint towards the Ranger, search him for potions, and then join you guys in the fight. Sound good?"

"Kid, can I ask you something?" Sazh asked, but before I could answer he whispered harshly, "ARE YOU INSANE?" I put my hand on my chin, and acted like I was pondering it before putting my thumb and my index close together. For once, his mouth was agape.

"Careful old man, someone'll trip on your tongue if your mouth continues to hang open like that." I smirked, then started to run forward. A hand grabbed my arm.

"You're throwing your life away, son. You are l'Cie, but in your state, you'll get ripped to shreds."

"Why have you now started doubting him?" Lightning grabbed his arm. "Why have you started doubting us? If the kid wants to use his swords, or die trying, let him. I, for one, am going to take them all out." Sazh looked like he was about to protest, but shut his mouth and released my arm.

I nodded at Lightning, took a deep breath, and used all my strength to propel my legs forward. It hurt like hell, but I was rapidly closing the distance between the Ranger and I. He shouted in surprise, and dropped his gun. I tackled him to the ground, and repeatedly smashed the back of his head into the ground. The sounds of gunfire and metal slashing metal filled the air, but I kept my focus on bashing the Ranger's brains in before he could react properly. The growing lack of resistance showed that I was close to achieving my goal. I slammed his head into the ground one final time, before looting his pockets. Blood continuously poured from his skull, staining the ground dark red. Etro must've been smiling upon me, because hidden within the Ranger's left side pocket was a bag of potions. I downed one of the vials of green liquid and instantly felt relief in my leg and the migraine ceased. _So that's how drinking one of these feels...reinvigorating. _I pocketed the small bag of vials, and smirked, my hands already ripping my blades from their sheathes.

"Miss me girls?" I softly asked, twirling the blades with my hands. "Time to get to work." I turned back towards the Watchdrones, but found them all on the floor. One had bullet holes in it, another was covered in slashes, and a third was still smoking. Hope had a slight look of pride as he looked at the smoking one.

"Took you long enough, not like we had three flying robots on our asses or anything. I mean, it's nothing my old bones can't handle." Sazh grumbled.

I rolled my eyes before retorting, "You're thirty-fucking-seven, what old bones?"

He ignored my question and instead began to lecture me. "You should watch your language. What are you kid, fourteen? What are you doing, running around with a mouth like that?"

"For one thing, I'm sixteen, and for another, this sixteen-year-old has cut through more people than you've shot. And I can definitely say that I've received more fatal injuries than you have. The only reason I'm still breathing right now is because of Bubbly's healing spell."

"Alright, fine, but you still should mind your language."

"That's not gonna happen." I muttered. Lightning by this time had moved forward, obviously done listening to our headache inducing ad pointless banter. The rest of us followed after her, focusing on getting through this area successfully. We came to a large slant, and as we ascended I noticed that the fires had also been turned into crystal. It really was...an amazing sight.

"Even the flames turned to crystal. This is getting ridiculous." Sazh mumbled. We turned to the right and proceeded down the cracked stairs. Walking down, I felt different than before any of this happened...better. I don't know how to explain it. I can't even place how the change occurred. It obviously wasn't from the potion, because potions only affect physical afflictions, not mindsets. Everything just seemed...clear, and I felt like I could overcome any obstacle with just my blades alone. _Honestly, there's no need for strategies anymore. All you need to do is strike harder and faster than your opponent. Simple really, why did I waste all my time thinking of what to do before? Much easier just to react. Tch, I really was idiotic. "Too many mind", as was said in Tom Cruise's 'The Last Samurai'. _I picked up my pace, and was soon on the right side of Lightning. She glanced at me but continued forward. _Not used to nearly being passed up, huh Light? _I blinked at my own thoughts. _Did I just mentally refer to her as "Light"? Well, it is shorter and I don't see why I shouldn't...I'll only refer to her by that name in my head; better than getting a gunblade to the throat for using a nickname that only close friends are allowed to address her as. _I nodded slightly, and not a second later, Sazh spoke.

"Those'll be our cold-blooded beasts, I take it." He pointed down at the PSICOM soldiers patrolling the area.

"Yep, let's give 'em hell." I spoke as I raised my blades. I didn't wait for a reply as I charged down the steps, sprinting towards the Ranger at the bottom. He turned towards me, gave a shout (out of surprise or to warn his two buddies leaning against the fountain in the center of the room, I didn't know which), and fired his rifle. Thankfully, his aim was the shittiest I've ever seen and he merely shot holes into my jacket. I impaled him with both swords and breathed a whisper, "You put bullet holes into my jacket." I pulled my blades in opposite directions, severing his body in two pieces. Blood shot in my face and got into my eyes. I turned to the other two Rangers and thought the two words of wisdom that defined this situation: _I'm. Fucked. "_How was I fucked?" I hear you ask. The answer was the giant synthetic creature on wheels that was in between the two Rangers. A Crusader. They looked slightly like the Hunters from Halo. Hulking bodies, angular heads, large, fat legs. Main difference was the fact that most of this creature was made out of metal, and the only flesh that was visible was its neck. I glared at it, pointed my swords forward, and felt a scream of defiance tear itself from my throat. I charged forward, clearing my mind of everything, letting my instincts take over, and focusing on the Crusader. By the time I was half-way to it, bullets whizzed by my head, hitting the Crusader's chest. A quarter of the distance, a boomerang soared past me, hitting the Crusader's face. A third of the distance, ropes attached to the crusader's right arm, forcing him into a crouch. Right when I converged onto its position, something flashed by me, and ended up slicing aggressively at the crusader's right shoulder. I smirked as I leaped into the air, impaling both swords to the hilt in the Crusader's chest. I twisted the handles before pulling the right blade free and stabbing it a little higher, in its shoulder. I did the same with my left blade, the Crusader smoking due to the electricity running through it. I wasn't finished yet, even though it was roaring in pain.

I channeled energy into my palms, only instead of a pressure building up behind my palm, they tightened their grips on the hilts of my blades, and wouldn't unclench. A strange, shocking feeling flowed through my arms, into my fingertips, and flowed down the hilt. Purple lightning then spread over my arms, and traveled to the Crusader. It began twitching violently, the smoke turned into fire, and shortly afterward, its jumbled screams were ended. As for me, I couldn't move at will, but involuntarily twitched aggressively. I kept my teeth clenched, for fear of biting my tongue off. _N-n-no, I am i-in co-con-control...I am in con-control...I AM IN CONTROL!_ I willed the energy that I had been channeling to dwindle until there was nothing more. Like a valve stopping flowing water, the purple lightning slowly diminish till it was no more. The crusader fell backward, and I gasped for breath hurriedly. _Okay, lightning magic? That's badass. I wonder what magics the others have. I mean, so far I have ice and lightning, Vanille can heal, and Sazh has fire...does Lightning have anything extra that wasn't in the game? I haven't seen the one I just used, so does everyone have something different, or just me? _A hand resting on my shoulder brought me back to reality. I looked up, and Lightning's cold gaze greeted me. Her other hand was extended. Without hesitation, I grasped her wrist, as she grabbed mine, and pulled me up.

I nodded to her and gave her a slight smile, "Thank you." She nodded back, but didn't open her mouth. Didn't expect her to. I turned and ripped my swords out of a metallic corpse for the second time that day. I noticed that its right shoulder was severed as I sheathed the blades on my back, and knew that was Lightning's handiwork. I smiled, but instantly sighed quietly because I knew we were far from done with these ruins. _Ignorance can be blissful...did I seriously just think that? Me? I believe knowledge is power, and I just said ignorance is bliss...that's it then, I have officially lost my mind. _I turned my attention back to the group and saw they were all eyeing me, a silent question: Are you alright, Stryke, and what was that purple stream flowing down your arms? I nodded to them, and gestured for them to keep up as I turned back to Lightning. We moved deeper into the ruins, and as I stared at Lightning, I wondered what she thought about a particular subject. _Damn, she is a goddess, but there is no way, not even in a million years, that my dream would ever come to pass. It would be amazing though...shit, I didn't feel these emotions and hormones when I was home, but here they run rampant? Fuck. I never could conceive that I ever would feel sexual desires, God dammit. And with a videogame heroine no less...a very beautiful, radiant, captivating-Stop it Stryke! Keep it together. But she really is all of those things and more. Does she think performing intercourse before marriage is a sin? Based on what I already know, she's against sex period, but if she did somehow reciprocate these feelings for me someday, would she have a problem with not waiting? Or would she-Bah, what the hell?! There's no chance in hell that she ever would, and especially not for someone like me. And there's no fucking way that these urges are actually real. They're just brought on by the game being turned into reality. I do not love her. I am not in love with her. I sure as hell haven't fallen for her._ However, even though I repeated those last three sentences over and over in my mind, I knew that they weren't true. They couldn't become true; not with the way my heart ached for her, and that fact alone, scared the living fuck out of me.

**So, did you like it? I am so sorry for the long ass update time, but I finally finished it. Chapter eight. I really hoped you enjoyed, and please R&amp;R, favorite and/or follow, and flame. I really mean it about the feedback, though. I find it as a true motivator to keep on writing. Special thanks to Ulquiorra9900 for being a constant reviewer and for giving me that spark to keep on going with this. I of course thank all of you who have read this though. It means a lot to me that this is the one thing that I have done that I haven't fucked up, so I thank you all. See you all next time. **


	9. Chapter IX

**A/N: Hey guys, how are you? Doing well, I hope. As for me, well Squeenix, as they will be henceforth known as, has rejected every proposal and will no longer let me into the building. I am at a complete loss for schemes and I will no longer be able to steal-acquire-ownership of FF. I will also not be able to oversee the development of FFXV, the one game I have waited over SIX YEARS FOR, along with many other people. I have failed you all and for that I am truly sorry. That's why I'm writing this directly after the last chapter. I hope you all enjoy. Please don't forget to R&amp;R, Favorite and/or Follow, and flame me till I burn to a crisp. ****  
Cheers,  
Stryke  
Post Script: In answer to your question, Bobsionfire, There will be some moments, but I'm trying to make it as realistic as I can. Especially with Lightning, it would be awhile before she would admit she actually had feelings for someone. I'm going to take my time and not rush it. Also, you have to remember that the Gates of Antiquity are located extremely early in the game; only a few hours in. There will be romance, just have patience.  
**

**Chapter IX: Destroying Antiquities Within the Gates of Antiquity**

It had become nearly routine: Walk around looking for an exit, kill PSICOM Rangers and Pantherons, loot their corpses and anything valuable that we could find, and continue looking for an exit. It seemed the battles took a shorter amount of time and were less exhausting than usual. I was thankful for that and wished for my energy to not burn out due to the fact that we weren't anywhere close to the exit. The small conversations we had were brief. Most replies were grunts or sighs. My comrades were worn ragged and exhausted. When turned a corner, Lightning turned back to us and seemed to gauge our status. Hope was panting heavily while sweat poured down his brow, Vanille was slouched and, for once, quiet, and Sazh wasn't showing any signs of exertion, but the amount of sweat that he wiped from his forehead told he was burned out.

She spoke with a voice that showed about as much emotion as a rock, "We stop here for now. Try to get some rest. I'll take first watch." As she said this, there was a collective sigh of relief and everyone lied down, either propped against the walls of the corridor we were in or laying their head on the cool stone. I sat down with my back against the wall and my right knee bent. I rested my arm on it as my had fell back against the wall. I tried to shut my eyes, but sleep did not claim me. I figured as much. I felt the adrenaline flow through my veins in a permanent cycle. I stood and walked to where Lightning leaned against the wall as she kept her eyes focused on the way forward. I leaned against the wall opposite and breathed deeply.

"You should be getting some rest, there's no need for two people to be on watch in such tight halls." She spoke, not even glancing in my direction.

"The more the merrier." I shrugged. "Besides, if anyone should get some rest, it's you Lightning. I was able to take a break a while back, while as you've been running non-stop for hours."

"I'm fine. There's no need."

"Alright, fine, but I'm not leaving anytime soon, so if you want to pass the time I'm fine with talking." I smirked at her. She sighed in response. My smirk widened, "Glad to see you're not going to argue."

She rolled her eyes, glanced at me and turned back while saying, "I'd zip up my jacket if I were you." I looked down and found my shirt reduced to nothing but a few strips of fabric. _Huh, so that's why it's so cold._ I took off my jacket, earning a raised eyebrow from Lightning.

"This shirt's useless now, so what's the point of keeping it on?" She shrugged and turned her attention back to the hallway. I stared at her for a few seconds, and allowed my mind to wander. I turned around so she didn't see my face turn the shade it did as a thought-okay a series of thoughts and images-entered my mind. _What the hell is wrong with me? When did I become a hormonal primate? I mean, for the first time in my sixteen years, I am disgusted with myself. But, why am I disgusted with myself? Is it really that sickening? It is how life continues onward after all. But for fuck's sake, I have these feelings for a VIDEO GAME CHARACTER! How fucking sick in the head am I? Jesus Christ...but still, she is very beautiful; a warrior goddess...there is truly no one on this earth that deserves her, much less her body. I have no chance with her, and speculating that she even has an inkling of a feeling for me is moronic. However, she must care at least. When I...died, that voice was hers calling for me and the fact that she embraced me...I don't know. The most likely answer is that she thinks of me like a kid brother...shit, I really hope that's not the truth...only one way to find out...yeah, I'm fucked. _With that last encouraging thought, I ripped the shredded shirt off and replaced the jacket. I zipped it up, and turned back to Lightning.

I didn't expect her to speak first, "It's red, you know?" I raised my visible eyebrow. "Your brand. It's light crimson and deep maroon." I rubbed the nape of my neck where the brand began. My previous thoughts were forgotten.

"Crimson? Well, it's odd, compared to everyone else's having black brands, but how much do we really know about Fal'Cies and l'Cies for certain? I'm sure we'll figure it out when the shit's up to here." I raised my hand as high as I could. Lightning shook her head slowly, the corners of her lips curved ever so slightly. A small grin spread over my face. _Make Lightning Farron smile, successful. _We slowly turned our attention back to the hall and enjoyed each other's company. Hours seemed to pass, both of us enjoying the sacred silence. I felt my eyes droop slightly and I stifled a yawn. I knew we should switch out. We'd been on watch for a while, and if Light wasn't forced to take a break, she would continue till she worked herself to death. I walked to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Lightning, you need to rest. We've been on watch for hours now; the others are rested, and it's time to switch out."

She opened her mouth to protest, but I interrupted her, "If you're too tired to fight, how will you be able to lead us out of here alive? You're the strongest one of us, but that's why you need to rest. Only way all of us make it out is if we're _all _in tip-top shape." She glared but didn't protest.

"Alright, fine. There's still no need to though." I nodded as I rolled my eyes. I walked over to the sleeping form of Sazh and lightly nudged him with my boot. He jumped and pulled his guns out.

"Where are they? How many? What are they?" I grabbed his shoulders before he hurt himself or other people...okay fine, I did it because he was close to pointing the gun in my face.

"Sazh, there's no one. It's time to switch out. Your watch has started." I heard him grumble as he moved past me. I for one lied back down against the wall and closed my eyes. Everything around me faded as I drifted into unconsciousness.

xxx

My eyes shot open as I felt someone nudge me. I was up in an instant, towering over and glaring at the idiot brave enough-or dumb enough-to wake me. A surprised squeal left the person's mouth as she fell backwards. Vanille. I mentally began to cuss her out using every curse word at my disposal. I continually cussed her,out as moved forward. Etro was definitely watching over us as there were no encounters with PSICOM soldiers. I guess I should've been thankful that the dream hadn't been allowed to continue as to deal with Sazh's comments and laughter after spotting a certain bulge would be hell to deal with. Shaking my head slightly, I followed close behind Lightning and the others.

We climbed another staircase and Vanille began shouting to us, "Hey! Hey! It looks like we can get through here." She pointed forward at an entranceway in front of us that had been covered in rubble, however, there was a hole in the top of it that looked big enough for us to squeeze through. I glanced at the others, seeing their reaction. Lightning studied the opening, Hope looked dumbfounded, and Sazh kept rubbing the back of his neck. I turned back to the opening, and shrugged. I moved forward, and traversed the rubble. When I made it to the hole, I moved into a prone position and climbed forward. What lay on the other side was not a mystery, nor was it going to be a piece of cake. We may be out of our league and we're going to have to hit it with everything we got. I just hope I don't lose it again...and I pray I don't hurt any of them...especially Light.

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the short chapter, but it can't be avoided as there's a boss fight ahead, and I'm going to have to take more time studying the attacks and patterns of the boss...typing while replaying the game is a pain in the ass. Anyway, sorry about the dream if you found it rushed, but let's face it, it was a DREAM. When was the last time you had an erotic dream and it was slow? I hope you all enjoyed, and please don't be angry with me for the short and rather rushed chapter. Please R&amp;R, Follow and/or Favorite, and Flame me to a charcoal mass.  
Cheers,  
Stryke  
**


	10. Chapter X

A/N:** Hey guys, sorry about the super short last chapter, but I wanted to put the next boss battle in its own chapter, so that's my reasoning. I hope you enjoy this next instalment, and please don't forget to R&amp;R, follow and/or favorite, and flame me to a flambéed crisp. Again, I hope you enjoy. I do not own FF blah blah blah.  
Cheers,  
Stryke**

**Chapter X: A True Test and an Inextinguishable Flame**

As I climbed through the tight space, the only thought on my mind was thus: _Keep moving, keep moving, the walls aren't closing in, the walls aren't closing in. It's just your imagination, it's all in your head. It's al-HOLY SHIT IS THAT A SPIDER?! _In my haste to escape the spider, I tumbled out the other side of the hole, landing on my face. "...Ow..."

I heard an Australian accented voice call out, "Stryke, are you alright?"

I whispered back, "Just dandy, there is a slight drop though. Be sure to watch out for the spiders." There was a squeal of fright, and in the next instant, Vanille emerged from the hole and fell out of it, landing much like I did. _Always wondered what I looked like when I fumbled. _I thought as I smirked. She glared back, but I cut off whatever her next words were going to be. "Okay, you have to admit, it was funny. If it makes you feel any better, you're not entirely covered in webs."

She threw her own smirk my way, "You're right, you took care of that for me. I'm not sure all that dust is good for your jacket." I stood there for a mere second completely still, but then started checking my poor jacket that had survived going to hell and back. It turns out that my jacket was actually spotless and Vanille was on the floor rolling after seeing me walk in circles. I felt my eye twitch slightly, and summoned all my willpower to stop myself from running her through with my blades. Thankfully-or disappointingly, for me-Sazh and Hope took that time to squeeze through simultaneously and ended up falling onto each other.

"Wow congrats, you were defeated by yourselves. Takes a lotta skill, that. Can you fall on a sword as well?" I grinned, letting them know I was kidding, however, the grin turned into a wince as something slammed into my face. I stared at them, and then saw the expression on Hope's face, and a boomerang in his hand. "Ow." I stated, void of emotion. Before chaos could ensue, a soft clacking noise was heard. I turned towards the source and inwardly smirked. _Of course she sticks the landing perfectly._ "Alright, look alive people, time to move out." I let Light move past me before I joined her on the right side and we moved closer to the steps-and the boss fight-that loomed ahead.

As we ascended, Sazh began voicing his nervousness, "Damn, something's making the hairs on my neck stand up."

Vanille tried comforting him, "You've got to stop worrying Sazh. After all, we avoided most other patrols here, we'll be alright now." _No, you have no idea what's coming. _We came to huge wide open area, a spot that totally didn't scream, "major fight housed here." We took in our surroundings and I was very impressed with the architecture. One glance at Light though, told you she sensed something. Her hand never left her gunblade's handle. How I wanted nothing more than to embrace her at that moment. I shook my head, hands unconsciously drifting to my weapons' hilts.

"Wow." Vanille said as she glanced around, looking like a little girl on Christmas morning. She started wandering about, trying t examine everything.

"Hey!" I called.

"Stay close!" Light yelled over me.

"I wanna look around, this place is so cool." she took off. I brought my palm to my face and Lightning sighed. Not one solid second later, a high pitched scream was released, and Vanille was high-tailing it towards us.

"Vanille!." Hope called out.

"Damn, that girl has large lungs." I grumbled as I drew my blades. Shortly after she emerged, a giant, pulsating, blue and white colored bird swooped down upon us. It's wingspan was massive. The Garuda Interceptor had come out to play, and for a split second, I wish I brought a camera.

Sazh jumped in the air repeatedly, "Over here!" He yelled as he grabbed Vanille and hid her behind him.

"Sazh, protect Vanille and Hope. I don't care about excuses! Light! Stay with me, and let's see if we can rip this bastard's wings off!" I yelled to her, and only slightly paled as I realized I shouted her nickname. _Shit to worry about later. _We advanced towards it and it studied us intently, not blinking.

"Any ideas in that head of yours?" Light asked, not taking her eyes off the beast.

I was about to open my mouth when I heard a voice speak in a voice that sounded like a knife dragged across stone, _"Use me." _

"Huh? Who said that?"

"Who said what? Stryke, focus."

"Right! I'll distract him using my lightning and blizzard spells, while you try to get behind him and deal as much damage as you can to him in the air." I didn't wait for a reply as I dashed forward, feeling the shocking sensation flow from my back to my fingertips, finishing as the tips of my blades which I kept pointed at the Interceptor. When the purple lightning shot down my arms, he reacted in due time, avoiding the stream entirely, and bomb rushed me. I felt my body hurdle through the air, and then come into contact with something very hard and unpleasant. The falling sensation returned shortly after and I felt my entire body slam into the ground. My ribs all cracked, an arm maybe broken, and blood trickling out of my mouth. _One attack did this to me? A l'Cie?! It's so idiotic it's almost funny. I didn't account for the damn bird to be faster than my lightning, and this is what it cost me. _A small smile spread over my features. _As if I held any true power...it really is...just a joke. _My eyes slowly shut and when I reopened them, I found myself in a room bathed in white light. There was someone standing across from me, his head down. I moved forward to try to rustle him, and that's when he lifted his head. My eyes widened. I was staring at myself, only he had a dark smirk on his face and his visible iris was a burning crimson.

"Wh-what are you?" I asked, taken back by him-me.

_"I am you, Icarus. Well, not you exactly, just what's beneath the surface. You called upon me once already, if you may or may not recall."_

"You, you're the one that caused me to rip that Manasvin Warden to shreds. No wonder why I don't remember it, you took over my body!"

_"I didn't take over anything. You let me in, as you will need to do shortly. You see, your friends, your precious Lightning, need your help. Due to you stopping your heart and breaking your body when you slammed back into the ground, you're practically dead. I however, can save you if you let me in."_

"If I do, can you promise that you won't hurt the others?"

_"The power does come at a price of lost control."_

"That's what I thought."

_"You'd let them die by that monstrosity's hand, then? Or, if they're even more lucky, wear down until PSICOM arrive and take to killing your friends and raping HER? Think it over, you have a few seconds."_

I shook my head a few times. _That power must've been something in order to rip apart a Warden single-handedly, but I can't accept this. They'll get in the way and be killed. But what other choice do I have? _I sighed, and then extended my hand towards the darker me. "Fuck it, I've got no other choice."

_"A wise decision." _He smiled. _"Now, this is going to feel...agonizingly painful." _He grabbed my hand and I instantly felt as if my back had spontaneously combusted, and my skin was burned to charcoal. I slumped to my knees, wishing for it to end. I couldn't help it; I let out a gut-wrenching scream and then, the pain stopped. I panted heavily and rose to my feet. I zeroed in on Light, and found her parrying the Interceptor's talons. I realized that it was toying with her, drawing out the fight. She was covered in claw marks and panting heavier than I was. My vision turned maroon.

_"Hey, flocktard! Yeah, I'm talking to you, you flocking bastard!"_ I spun my blades that I didn't even realize I picked up. The Interceptor turned towards me and, screeching, used his wings to launch himself at me. I didn't let him get half way when I charged forward, blades first. When we collided, my blades ricocheted off his beak, and he bit my entire midsection. It turned out, this bird was more like a dinosaur in the fact that it had razors for teeth. I stood my ground, and felt my blood run down my abdomen. I began shaking, but from pain, oh no. I threw my head back and an insanity-laced cackle tore itself from my throat. All noise was drowned out by a deafening roar in my ears, and the Interceptor's eyes blinked.

When I got ahold of myself, I looked it right in its eyes, and spoke, _"My turn, flocker."_I flipped my blades point down, and drove them both into the bird's cranium repeatedly. over, and over, and over. Blood and brain matter sprayed in all directions. My face was coated, and I couldn't see, but that didn't make a difference. How much time had passed I am uncertain, but after the third thrust, the creature's beak had slackened. I could feel vibrations in my skull, and I knew I was laughing. Hell, I enjoyed it too much to not. Interrupting it all was a hand on my shoulder. I froze, stiff. I turned to the person, and as soon I lay my eyes on her, the roaring in my ears quieted 'till there was only an echo. I felt my sadistic intent follow. I slowly got ahold of myself, my actions. "L-light?" I looked at her, then back at the already stinking corpse. It's skull was destroyed, and all that remained was a bloody heap of tissue. My blades clattered to the floor, and I bent over, the contents of my stomach following them. As I coughed and retched, the hand never left my shoulder...Light never left my side. I stood up straight once more, shaking slightly. It wasn't the smell or the look this time, no. It was the fact that I consciously enjoyed butchering the Interceptor. I enjoyed it...the sadistic urges not letting me stop._ If it was anyone else, I know I would have killed them. I would have torn their throats out. Etro, what the fuck am I turning into? And why the fuck has it taken residence in my-_

"Stryke, need a minute?" Light interrupted my thoughts. I shook my head no, and then winced as I tried to move out of the thing's mouth. The jaw may have slackened, but my entire midsection was pierced.

"A little help, please." I said as I pushed both sides of it's mouth open. Pain exploded from my midriff but I held in screams of pain; I only had a permanent winced etched into my face. As soon as I dislodged myself from the bastard's fangs, I collapsed. My face didn't meet concrete though. Something caught me and held me on my feet. Glancing up, I saw Lightning and my arm around her neck. She was supporting me. Sazh bolted towards us and grabbed my other arm, throwing it around his neck. I got a good look at the damage. My stomach was covered in small holes. Blood and a clear liquid poured out of them. _Stomach acid...no, no. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Can a potion even heal this? Worth a shot. Shit. _

I tried speaking, "S-sazh...I h-have potions in...my right pocket." He looked surprised, then began rooting around in my pants pocket, removing the bag of vials. Taking one out he bit the cork off and held the vial to my lips. Within mere seconds, I felt a strange itching sensation as my skin started knitting itself together. Then, relief and energy flowed through me. I planted my feet on the ground and moved my arms from their necks. Turning, I walked over to where my swords lay; thankfully, no bile touched them. I grabbed hold of the hilts, swung the swords in the air, flinging the blood off, and sheathed them. That's when I noticed the giant ship in front of us.

Vanille bolted forward then pointed at it, "Check it out!"

Sazh started towards gesturing to Hope, "C'mon. Hope to it, let's go."

I put a hand on the side of it, and smiled. If you told me I would be here at this moment a year ago, I would've insulted your sanity and intelligence. Now, I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be. This place, this world...it's more beautiful than anything I've seen. Everything is alive and nothing is bland. Here, I'm alive, not just living like I was back home.

Vanille clapped her hands together, "This'll make things easier, for sure."

Sazh stood next to her, his arms crossed and a small smile on his face, "Yeah, knowing our luck, it's probably missing an engine."

Vanille turned towards him, "You shouldn't be so negative."

I spoke, "Hate to agree with Bubbly, but she's got a point. I have high hopes that this'll fly. Call it a hunch if you will." I smirked.

"You both shouldn't get your hopes up." He called over his shoulder waving a hand to dismiss us.

I rolled my eyes, then an idea sprang into my mind, "Care to make a wager then?"

He stopped, "What kind of wager?"

I walked forward, "How much Gil you got on you?"

"114, you?"

"123. If it runs, I get half your Gil. If it doesn't, you get all of mine. I'm generous that way." I smirked.

He had a look of suspicion on his face, then stuck his hand out. I grasped his arm as he did the same and we both spoke at the same time, "Deal."

Am I mean? Let's face it, I know everything that's going to happen, so any wages that have to do with events here, I'm set. So no, I'm merely using an advantage. What would be truly evil, is if I took all his Gil, not just half. Sazh opened the ship's passenger door, and we all piled in. The seating arrangement was that of a plane back home. Sazh sat in the cockpit, I sat in a window seat, front row to the right, Light sat next to me, Hope sat to our left, and Vanille sat next to him. As Sazh started pushing buttons, the roar of the engine was heard.

"Looks like you'll have more room in your pockets, huh Sazh?" I spoke. His response: A middle finger over his head. I chuckled as I lay my head on my fist, propped up by the wall. Everything was working out...until beams of energy started raining down upon us like the gates of Hell had been unleashed.

**A/N: Hey guys, or girls, or other. Last few times all I said was guys and people got offended. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to see you all next chapter. This is the boring part where you get asked to please R&amp;R, follow and/or favorite, and flame all you like. I love how popular this is getting, and I honestly want to see feedback from you guys, and I'd love to see if you guys have any ideas, comments, or questions. Thank you all for staying with me here, and I'll see you all next chapter.  
Cheers,  
Stryke  
**


	11. Chapter XI

A/N:** Hey guys, hope you enjoyed last chapter. Icarus has a twisted side of himself? Didn't see that coming, did you? What will happen now that this darker side has made himself known? What will become of Icarus? Why am I asking questions I already know the answers to? The answers await in this and the following chapters to come. Please, please R&amp;R, follow and/or favorite, and flame. I would love to hear any ideas that you guys have, and I may put some into this (the credit going to you in the A/N of the chapter that I use your idea). Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this next part of Lightning Strikes.  
Cheers,  
Stryke**

**Chapter XI: The Vile Peaks...What the Fuck am I Doing** **Here?**

The thoughts that were racing through my mind as we were bombarded by laser cannons were, _Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shiiiiiiiiiiiit! _Mature, I know, but hey, I was in a flying metal contraption getting shot at. At least I wasn't saying it...that loudly.

As we were nearly hit again, I heard Sazh yell in frustration, "Aw, no!"

Lightning moved into the cockpit, grabbing the controls from him, "Give me that!"

"What?!" Sazh asked, incredulously. She aimed for the nearest PSICOM gunship, and opened fire. The ship dropped out of the sky, giving us an exit. All we had to worry about was the seven other ships.

As we zoomed passed, Vanille sat forward and asked, "Did we get 'em?"

I snarled sarcastically, "Oh yeah, we got 'em. We got one of them. That satisfying enough for you?"

As we continued maneuvering around the buildings and structures of the town we flew over, Hope yelled out, "They're still behind us!" Lightning continued evading by banking to the right or left of buildings as gunfire surrounded us.

"Stop!" Sazh yelled, though he was unheeded as we dodged another spray which fired into the building we were in front of. "Hey, I said stop!" She still held onto the controls and we zoomed right out of the city...into a canyon wall. Sazh ripped the controls back into his grasp and pulled up, narrowly escaping collision. He turned towards her, glaring, "Do you _want _to die?" He pulled into a very narrow chasm and flew through it full speed.

"How are you gonna lose them?" Hope cried, his voice cracking somewhat.

"You've got me kid!" He answered, focusing intently at the cockpit window.

"Then let me!" Lightning called.

"No, thank you! Fuck that!"

"For the love of Etro, you sound like my parents!" I yelled, agitatedly. As we passed through the other side, bright light assaulted our eyes. I blinked over and over, then spoke, "Damn...is that light? Natural, non-artificial light?" Sure enough, a blue sky covered in clouds came into focus. However, the beautiful and much missed scenery was interrupted by bullets whizzing past us.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me, they're still on us?!" Sazh glanced over his shoulder. I snuck a glance, there were at least five PSICOM light aircrafts. We began feeling the shocks of bullet impacts, rattling the ship. "We're taking hits!" Sazh yelled. I had long-since closed my eyes and prayed. I knew it made me look weak, but I couldn't keep them open and see the cause of my death. I was ashamed by this, but I still did it. I am thankful Lightning had her eyes pressed to the cockpit window. "Oh, give me a fucking break!" Sazh yelled in annoyance. "Hang on!"

I did as instructed, gripping the seat harder than I ever gripped anything in my life. That's when I heard it, the sounds of explosions. I turned back and saw that we weren't being followed. There was a canyon wall that was surrounded by dust, and then it hit me. Sazh must've shot the canyon wall before zooming under and crushing our pursuers.

Sazh pounded the controls in front of him, "For the love of all that is good!" That's when a holographic screen popped up in front of him. We all craned our heads in to watch and listen, finding that it was a Cocoon news report.

_"Next, an update on the status of the Purge." _A perky female voice said; obviously a reporter. _"Just moments ago, the Sanctum announced the successful conclusion of the Purge, along with the safe arrival of the Cocoon migrants to their new homes on Pulse."_

Sazh shook his head and pressed the screen in front of him, changing it to an interview of the Primarch who looked like a king on his daughter's wedding day, _"Yes, that is correct. There is no denying the enormity of the strain the Purge has placed on us all. But given the tens of millions of lives at stake, there really was no alternative." _The mass-murdering bastard actually had the audacity to look remorseful as he lowered his head.

The screen of the Primarch zoomed out to see a reporter spewing his useless piece, _"Primarch Dysley stood by the move, stressing the necessity of the relocation. When asked about the possibility of future Purges, the Primarch remained noncommittal, stating only that he'd seek council with the Fal'Cie, Eden and weigh all options before making a decision." _Hope sighed and leaned his head against the chair in front of him.

"Yeah that's right. If it makes the Sanctum look bad, it never even happened." Sazh said softly.

Vanille put her index finger to the screen, and it changed to another interview of his royal assness, _"In all the centuries since the War of Transgression, Cocoon has been spared Pulse aggressiveness, and prospered from it. It is essential that we maintain this peace. That is the purpose of the Sanctum."_

I turned from my screen and sneezed, "Sorry, just allergic to bullshit."

We turned attention back to the screen, _"We will continue employing every resource available to combat these threats to the harmony of our society."_

Sazh spoke, "Meaning, we'll be running for the rest of our lives."

Vanille said timidly, "Hey..."

Sazh turned to her, "Hmm?"

"Um, who is this guy?"

Sazh promptly slammed his head against controls, an exasperated sigh exiting his mouth. "I mean, what do they teach you kids these days?"

I spoke, "Don't worry old man, I'll answer the headache." I turned towards said headache. "That is Primarch Galenth Dysley, ruler of the Sanctum, and therefore Cocoon. His royal assness and your judge, jury, and executioner...nice guy."

Sazh added, "Yeah, the Murderer-in-chief."

We turned attention back to the screen as another reporter began speaking, _"According to our insta-poll-"_

Lightning spoke softly, "Just another tool of the Fal'Cie."

_"Nearly ninety percent of Cocoon citizens agree with the Sanctum's handling of the Purge. Seventy percent of respondents said they would also support additional Purges were the need to arise."_

Sazh shook his head once more, "Yeah, let's just Purge everybody. That'll fix it!" That's when everything started flashing red and bullets came our way...again. Everyone including me turned and saw the remaining four PSICOM light aircrafts flying towards us. "Points for perseverance." Sazh said as he began throwing switches and buttons on the controls, shooting us forward. We flew higher and higher, the bright light all but blinding us. When we finally emerged through the clouds, we saw the cause of the light, and even now it's hard for me to describe. All I know is that one word flowed each and every one of our minds, but only Vanille spoke it: wow. The light source was a Sanctum Fal'Cie, way larger than the one we saw in the Vestige.

"A Sanctum Fal'Cie up close and personal. Cocoon's own light in the sky." Sazh said, a small smile on his face. From the brightness of the light coming off of it, it could have been mistaken for a sun. Once more, PSICOM had to interrupt the scenery. "Here we go again." Sazh banked to the left, then Lightning proposed one of the craziest ideas I've ever heard.

"Fly in!" She pointed at the Fal'Cie. "We'll lose them in there!" Sazh looked like he was about to protest, but he flew straight for the giant glowing core. As we passed through, the sounds of explosions followed. Sazh smiled as he spoke, "I like this Fal'Cie!" Turning, I saw there were only two left, and I couldn't help but agree with him...until I remembered what caused crashing into the Vile Peaks in the game. I closed my eyes and braced myself. It was going to be a bumpy ride.

"There's more of them!" I hear Vanille cry out. I kept my eyes shut, just waiting for the impact to land. I didn't have to wait long. The whole ship shuddered, then started spinning in fast rotations. Our tail got hit. I began to grow light headed as we plummeted and I briefly remembered something about not enough oxygen getting to the brain before everything faded, and went black.

XXX

Questions. Questions that needed answers, yet I had none. The main question was, where am I? I was sitting on a sandy beach, wearing a white T-shirt and black trunks. The waves of the ocean in front of me were calm and a purple and orange sky hung overhead. I heard someone calling my name.

"Stryke! Stryke, get over here! We need your help with the decorations!" I turned and saw Snow standing there in nothing but black trunks. Not even his customary bandanna was present. "C'mon, you don't want Serah to get pissed at you for not doing your part for Lightning's birthday, do you? Or, if you'd prefer, I'll kick your ass and drag you there right now." I stood as the pieces all fit into place. I was in Bodhum, and it was Light's birthday. Might as well let the events play out.

"Yeah, I'm coming, don't get your trunks in a bunch!" Damn, that was bad. I followed him away from the Ocean, and into (big surprise) Cafe NORA. Turning towards him, I spoke, "Sure your fiancé's sister doesn't mind spending her birthday in your little cafe for vigilantes?"

He turned towards me, confusion etched onto his features, "Why would she mind?"

"Oh, no reason." I said as I entered the cafe. _Yeah, you're fucked, buddy. _I covered my eyes as I opened the door; Everything was glowing a brilliant bright white color, and I slowly felt as if I was being sucked into a wormhole.

xxx

My eyes flew open, and a black sky greeted me. I could feel heat coming from behind me, and there was an orange glow to my surroundings. Turning, I saw a giant crashed ship, nose down and on fire.

I heard someone speaking, "Hey." I turned and saw Lightning shaking Hope to little avail. That's when I heard it: the growling of Pantherons. I was instantly on my feet, ripping my blades from their sheathes. Lightning already had her gunblade out and ready. There were two of them. I smirked, blades spinning in my hands.

Vanille came to, and began shaking the "old" man, "Hey! Wake up!" He sat up, pissing and moaning, as usual. She then Moved to Hope, who was laying face down in the dirt. "You've got to wake up!"

He groaned in response, "Just let me die in peace..."

He slowly rose to his feet as Vanille pointed forward, "Look!"

"Hey!" Sazh yelled as she bolted forward to "help". "Slow down!" He joined us as well, Hope in tow. Two more Pantherons crept up on our right and left.

"You ready?" I asked, turning to the one moving towards me.

"Got to keep you kids safe, right?" He asked, pulling his guns out of their holsters. The fight that ensued took less than three minutes. I could hear the old-fashioned FF victory music in my head as I swiped the blood off my blades before sheathing them on my back. You'd think animal instinct would kick in when things like these stumble on six people who smell like blood...or maybe their like sharks and the smell is what draws them in. I began looking around, taking in my surroundings. We were in the Vile Peaks...one of my least favorite areas in the game due to the frustrating as hell mechanical monsters that had resistances to everything and were nearly impossible to stagger. That's gonna great to run into...Etro, what the fuck am I doing here?

Cutting off my reluctant thoughts of moving forward was the annoying sound of Vanille's voice, "Glad that's over." I could feel my braincells commiting suicide one-by-one. Vanille, Sazh, and Hope sat down next to each other, taking a breather. I moved to join them, thinking that a breather sounded alright.

"Damn, I'm beat." Sazh spoke as Light moved passed him. "What, no break?"

She stopped and spoke over her shoulder, "They're tracking us."

"I know that. I know that, but we aren't soldiers!" He exclaimed. "We don't have your kind of stamina."

She spun around, "You got enought to complain."

He stood there, flabbergasted, "Oh, that's-" He threw a dismissing hand her way, "Forget it!"

I jumped to my feet and sprinted after her, "Lightning! Wait!" She continued forward at a brisk pace. I increased my speed and grabbed her arm, "Wait. Look, soldiers are on our tail, but they've earned a few minutes of rest. Abandoning them now, after everything we've done and been through is a waste of talent. We were all made l'Cie at the same time, and we're in this together. We've already left one comrade behind, I'll be fucked if we leave any others."

She turned and glared, "Then stay with them if you want to be killed."

"Lightning, we will stay here for a few more minutes, including you, and I don't care if I have to break your arms and legs to do it." I glared back. I would do many things to survive, but leaving my friends to die is not on the list.

She didn't say anything, but the next thing I knew, I was on my back, the wind knocked out of me. "If you're going to threaten someone, make sure you have the balls to carry it out." Light then walked back in the direction of Sazh, Vanille, and Hope. I grinned as I got back onto my feet, and then winced. That was going to leave a mark.


	12. Chapter XII

**A/N: Based on your vote, this chapter will be from Light's perspective. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please, don't forget to R&amp;R, follow and/or favorite, and flame. I will admit that I am pleased so many of you like this work, and I am greatly surprised that after eleven chapters, I haven't had a single flame. I thank you all for taking the time to read this, and fueling the fire that makes me want to write and put down my ideas. I love you all for that (no homo and I'm sorry I'm not single) and just don't forget to leave a review, whether it's criticism, praise, or even a flame. Feel free to judge how you want. Okay, enough of my mouth, and to the damn chapter.  
****Cheers to you,  
****Stryke**

**Chapter XII: The Unbearable Annoyance Known as Stryke**

There was only one thing that annoyed me more than Snow, and that was guys who had egos the size of the Vestige. However, Stryke, had one that could wrap around Cocoon. _Add that to the fact that he uses his body as a shield when he's out of options, I mean, just today how many times has he almost died? Did he just not care about his own life?_ I glared at said annoyance as he walked towards Vanille, Hope, and Sazh, a faint smirk on his lips. His midnight black hair obscured the left side of his face as he spoke to them. He also seemed like he was hiding something. What normal teenager could take a brief glimpse at a group of enemies, and spew out a strategy in mere seconds?

I heard Vanille ask him, "Stryke, how do you do it? Plan a strategy and carry it out as soon as we're surrounded?"

He turned towards her, chuckling, "It's not so much ability as it is instinct. I just do what feels like the right thing to do."

I scoffed and turned my attention away from the nuisance, sat down, and stared intently at my surroundings, searching for any signs of PSICOM soldiers. The slightest hint of anything, and we're gone. That's when I heard the familiar sound of footsteps. I slowly grabbed the handle of my most trusted battle companion. _Just a little more...five feet away...three feet...one foot, NOW! _I swiftly spun around, my gunblade already in blade mode, and I pressed it against the intruder's throat. The person stiffened, but didn't make a sound. Stryke...great.

"Hello to you too." He smirked. That bastard had the audacity to smirk in such a predicament. I pressed the blade harder into his skin, pushing him into the canyon wall. Blood slowly trickled down his throat.

"Open your ears and listen. I don't trust you, understand? You manage to find a way to persuade me otherwise, and I don't paint the mountainside crimson."

He spoke, "Alright, those are acceptable terms. Would you care to stop cutting a trough in my throat." I glared, pressed slightly harder, and slowly released him. He stood straight, his fingertips lightly touching the small cut in his neck. "So, what is it you'd like to know? My life story? Where I'm from?" I narrowed my eyes at him. "Alright...where to start? I guess a name will do. My name-real name-is Icarus Aethon. I haven't been completely honest with you," he gestured towards the others. "and them; you're correct about that. I'm not...fom here. I wasn't born on Cocoon nor Pulse." My eyes widened slightly. "I'm what you would call...an inter-dimensional being. I come from a dimension that is not nearly as technologically advanced as yours. We don't have airships or gunblades or Fal'Cie. We aren't plagued by monsters either. The place where I was born and where I lived was my family's estate. It's located in the city Alexandria. The state, Virginia. Thankfully, I don't have an accent, but that's away from the point. Thing is, school was over and I went home to play videogames. I blacked out on my couch, and the next thing I know, I'm on that fucking Purge train." He leaned against the wall and didn't break eye contact.

I went over what he said in my mind, and it couldn't be true. It just didn't make logical sense...and at the same time, it made perfect sense. Add that to his hand gestures and that small smile and distant look on his face as if he were somewhere else when he told me of his home...he was either telling the truth or he spent his whole life lying through his teeth. Something told me it was the first one. This...kid had been torn from his home and placed here. How has he not broken yet?

"I take it you're probably wondering to yourself how I've made it this far if I haven't had any experience fighting with blades. The answer is a mystery even to me. I am literally just listening to instinct. I mean, I strategize and think of the best plan, but aside from that, I merely do what feels right...or I lose it and He comes out. You know what I'm speaking of. I don't know if I'm insane, have two personalities, am just a skin masking a monster, or if I'm slowly losing what makes me human." He looked at me and moved forward slowly. "Lightning, I'm...a timebomb. And I don't know how long I got." He stood in front of me, and I had to crane my neck to not break eye contact. "If I blow, and I try to hurt someone, please, kill me."_ What?_ "I don't care how you do it, or where you stab or shoot, just make sure you do it. In fact, you've seen how I am, I fight with abandon. I don't care if I'm injured. The scar on my chest proves that. Can you kill something like that? Do you want to test it?" His visible eye remained still, not blinking. Like a blade, the silver iris had an edge to it.

My response: thrusting my gunblade forward. Stryke-Icarus twisted to the right, dodging the thrust and countering with a diagonal slash with his right blade. Easily parrying the blade, I swung upwards. If it connects, it would eviscerate him. He jumped back, swinging horizontally. Ducking I swept my right leg under his, sending him to the floor. I brought Blazefire down upon his chest. He rolled to the right and came up on one knee before charging at me blades first. He was above the skill of an average fighter, I noticed as I dodged his attacks. He never stuck with an attack pattern, and he swung his swords one after the other, never at once. He also had speed. However, his attacks were his defense. He fought with a mentality that said if I strike fast enough and keep a relentless assault, then I won't be able to get hit. Time to prove him wrong.

I waited for him to swing diagonally, and I ducked under, pressed forward blade first, and got through his defenses. I smirked victoriously, the end was near_..._or so it seemed. He jumped backwards, landing in a prone position on his back. The blade went over him and he rolled forward, stepping past my defenses. I felt a cool point touch my navel. I looked down and saw Stryke smiling as he panted. I smirked and motioned for him to look to his left. As he did so, he saw Blazefire's point. It was an acceptable draw, though I wished for a victory. Only thing that saved him was throwing himself to the floor.

He stood and his lips twitched slightly as he looked up at the sky before looking back down at me, "Alright, it's official. You could kill my ass without even trying. We should get going, I think they're rested enough to get moving, don't you?"

He smiled, and for once, it wasn't an egotistical smirk or a manic smile. _It was a compassionate one...compassionate one, where the hell did that come from?_ I nodded in answer to his question, and moved forward, him in tow.

He grabbed my arm, "Lightning, do you trust me now?"

I turned towards him and answered, "I trust you enough to fight alongside you." I saw his smile turn from compassionate to something I couldn't recognize.

"Thank you. You're not as cold as you want everyone to believe." He bowed his head slightly, before moving passed me, hands stuffed in his jacket. _What the hell was that about?_ I shook my head before continuing onward, seeing Icarus shake and kick everyone, as they had fallen asleep. He was definitely odd, but maybe that's normal where he's from. I almost scoffed out loud. Yeah, and I'm the Primarch.

"C'mon people, death, destruction, and hatred await." Icarus gestured to the pass in front of us and moved at a brisk pace, catching up to me. We came to a giant engine which was easy enough for me to vault over. Icarus followed, hefting himself over it. Hope calambered over it like it was some kind of obstacle. Sazh and Vanille followed shortly afterward. We moved onward, the paths being connected by rickety bridges. For once, there was silence as we traversed the Vile Peaks. Blocking the rode in front of us, was a giant wheel of some kind. Icarus and I easily jumped over it, while Hope had to hoist himself over. A creaking sound caught my attention. Spinning around, I saw the wheel rolling backwards...Hope still on it. The one and only time Icarus had been faster than I, was this moment. He spun on his heel, bolted towards the wheel, grabbed Hope's shirt, and launched him towards me using all the strength in his body.

"Sazh, Bubbly, get your asses moving!" The sounds of pounding feet on metal told me that they followed his advice. The wheel rolled down the bridge and right before it got to the end, the bridge collapsed. I hate people who complain or who think that they hold the weight of the world on their shoulders, but sometimes I wish things would just go our way for once. Yeah, as if that would ever happen. I then remembered the day of the celebration in Bodhum. PSICOM grunts were crawling all over the place, like insects. They had found something inside the Vestige. What they stumbled upon was none other than the Pulse Fal'Cie that turned Serah, and all of us into l'Cie.

xxx

_I looked up at the fireworks, still thinking they were unbelievable. There was a reason people say Bodhum had the best fireworks. _

_A hulking figure brought me back to reality, "You look dreamy, Farron. Wishing on fireworks were you? And you call yourself a soldier!" He turned and smiled at me, showing he was joking. He had short black hair and a mustache. He was wearing the officer's uniform for the Guardian Corps. I knew who it was the instant he opened his mouth: Lieutenant Amodar._

_I saluted him, "Sorry Lieutenant. But I really don't think guard duty is my calling, sir." I bowed._

_He put his index finger on my forehead and pushed it up, "Well, lucky for you, your shift just ended. Pack it up and go home."_

_"But-sir?"_

_"PSICOM found something in the Vestige nearby. They don't want the Guardian Corps here stepping on their toes. Huh, I'm sure you've heard about the accident at the Euride Gorge energy plant, and how it has the PSICOM lads in a tizzy."_

_"Yeah, more 'incident', than accident. Something Pulse related?"_

_"Heh, you're taking tomorrow off?"_

_"Sir, for my birthday, sir. My sister, she insisted on it."_

_"Twenty-one, huh? Maybe it's a good time to send off that letter of recommendation for officer training." He put his hand on my shoulder and it took me a minute to comprehend what he was saying._

_"Lieutenant..."_

_"You're past due for a promotion, Farron. Think of your sister, and your future. And, uh, keep your nose out of trouble."_

_"Out of PSICOM business, you mean."_

_"Yeah. Nothing good will come of it. Nothing but grief."__  
_

xxx

_How right you were_ Lieutenant. I thought as I moved down the pass in front of me. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Turning, I saw it was Hope and Icarus. "Just you two?"

"Yeah, for now, at least." Hope answered.

"They'll have to take a separate path, obviously. They're betting on the hope that it wraps around and they'll meet us there." Icarus walked to my right side.

Hope stood on my left, "What do we do?"

"They'll catch up...eventually." I moved forward once more. We came across Thextrons, and mechanical monsters, but with all of us fighting at once, they didn't stand a chance.

"All the junk around here came from Pulse, didn't it? This stuff is what was left over from the scrap the Fal'Cie took from Pulse to repair Cocoon. And it-hey, wait up you guys!" Hope exclaimed as Icarus and I 'accidentally' let the distance grow between Hope and us. We came to a giant wall, and Hope shook his head, "Dead-end, looks like we have to go back. I don't see anyway over that. Can we get through this way, you think? You know where you're going, right?"

I studied the wall, searching for a way to climb it somehow, "I've been here on missions before."

"Missions? Nothing to do with the Purge, though?"

I turned to him, "The Purge is PSICOM's baby."

Icarus spoke, "Lightning, allow me. The military government is split into two groups, Hope. You got the Public Security and Intelligence Command, PSICOM, and the Guardian Corps. They make sure we're able to live healthy safe lives and combat any threat to the citizens of Cocoon. Take Lightning for example. If you payed attention at all while we were introducing ourselves in Lake Bresha, then you'd remember that she was Guardian Corps. The Bodhum Security Regiment, to be exact."

Hope looked confused still, "Wait, but I don't get it. If you're not PSICOM, then why the hell would you board that train?"

"I did it for Serah." I spoke, looking at him. I then felt pain as I said her name. _Serah...I'm sorry. _

**Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Did you like the new view? I know I didn't do a very good job with this one, and I wouldn't be surprised if this got the worst reviews so-far. I'm sorry if I screwed it up. I wanted to thank Time Hollow for being the only person who voted. Really means a lot that you took the time for that, and I thank you. I hope to see you all next chapter and we'll be back with our head star. Please don't forget to R&amp;R, follow and/or favorite, and to flame.  
Cheers,  
Stryke **


	13. Chapter XIII

**Chapter XIII: She Ditched Me and Left Me With This Brat?!**

I looked at Light's back and honestly felt a little worried. She hadn't moved for a while now, and had a distant-if not troubled-expression on her face. Then I remembered this moment in the game: she was having a flash-back of boarding the Purge train, surrendering her weapon, and meeting Sazh.

"I had to rescue Serah before they transported the vessel to Pulse, and out of my reach. My only chance to save her was to join the Purge." She said, and I heard a slight change in her voice. It sounded as if there was a hint of sadness to her usual deadpan. Hope didn't catch it.

"You're telling me you got on that train so you could save your sister? Heh, that's crazy. I could never do something like that."

I moved towards him; his comment rubbed me the wrong the way, "It's not a question of can, or can't Hope. There are some things in life that you just have to do. What she did, is no exception."

"Easy for people like you two to say." Hope glared. Light sighed, than began climbing up the wall without the use of her hands. There was just enough junk and ledges that she could jump from that she made it to the top. "Lightning!"

"Hey, why're you ditching and leaving me with the brat?" I yelled. No answer. "Great, just dandy. Oh Christ."

Hope sighed and sat down on a rock, his eyes glued to the floor, "She left me..."

I sat next to him, "Us. But, I suppose that's a good thing. Someone has to look out for you, squirt."

"Yeah, and that's the problem...too weak to go after her, and too weak to fight alone."

I smirked, "Well then, does that mean you want to toughen up?"

He looked towards me, "Wha-?"

"It's simple Hope. How many push-ups can you do?"

He looked away, "I'm not sure what that has to do with anything."

"Humor me." He mumbled something under his breath, obviously embarrassed. "What was that?"

"Ten, alright. I-I can do ten."

I groaned, "Kid, we have a lot of work to do...okay then, get in push-up position, but put your weight on your fists. I have an idea." I took the harness that housed my weapons and removed the right sheath, blade included. "Now, I'm going to slide this sheath under your fists continuously. However, if you don't push yourself off the ground by that time, then your wrist will pay. I will continue swatting your skin until you either push up or can't continue any longer and fall on your side. However, if you fall, we will move on to the next training."

"Wait a minute, I can't do this forever, so I'm to fall eventually. There's no way to win for me."

"Now you're thinking. Don't. Focus or your wrist will pay." I began the exorcise. Hope was already tired as it was, so I was slightly impressed by his first five, as he hadn't been hit, but then he started slipping. He grunted and tried over and over. His sixth one: five hits, seventh one: eight hits, eighth one: ten hits. He tried to do another one, but he only pushed his body up, not off the ground. After the twelfth hit on his ninth push-up, he collapsed. His wrists were bruised and he rolled onto his back, panting in exertion.

"Well, that was...unsatisfying. Onto the next torture-training." Sadly, before we could move on, I heard the sound of pounding footsteps and a voice that caused suicidal brain-cells.

"We made it!" Vanille exclaimed as she rushed over to where Hope and I sat. He had pulled himself off the ground and lied with his back against the rock we sat on earlier.

Sazh stood to our front, "Where's Grumpy?" In answer, Hope pointed to the top of the wall Light had scaled with her obviously extensive parkour skills. I smiled inwardly at my own brilliance. "Got left behind, huh?" Sazh put his hand on Hope's shoulder.

He brushed him off and stood, "Leave me alone!" He panted. "This is pointless. I can't keep up. Can't go home."

"That's why you need to train and to be stronger." I pointed out.

"Your torture exercises won't help and you know it! It's over for me."

Bubbly made him look at her, "It's _not _over! We'll get you home."

He glared at her, "I don't have one. Now that Mom is-" He trailed off.

"What about your dad?"

"You see, I was in Bodhum with Mom, night of the fireworks. Dad couldn't come, he never had time for us. That night, they found the Fal'Cie in the Vestige. The next day, soldiers sealed off the town and we couldn't get back to Palumpolum. They forced us onto the train with everyone else. Mom, she was frantic. She wanted to get us home, so she tried to fight. She got tricked, by Snow! He used her!"

Vanille quickly changed the subject, sensing an emotional complex, "Let's get you home, okay? Your dad's gotta be worried."

"Let him worry. Why should I care? He doesn't."

"Any father cares." Sazh mumbled to himself.

Vanille turned towards him, "Sazh?"

"It's nothing, forget it." Sazh moved over to a machine that looked like a rusted engine.

Vanille grabbed Hope's hand, "Come with me, okay?" She pulled him over to the side and they looked as if they were having a very one-sided conversation. I walked over to Sazh, having nothing better to do.

He fiddled with a lever, talking to himself, "This ought to do it." He pulled it. The machine began spinning before launching a magnetic cable at a nearby metal sheet, pulling it towards us. It turns out that the metal sheet was actually a cube. Well, we now had our way up.

"We got time." Sazh spoke as he moved towards Hope. "We'll get you home. Your dad will be happy to see you." I already jumped on top of the cube, then flipped over the metal ledge above. I landed and had to regain my balance, but I was still surprised. I stared at my hand, then clenched it into a fist. Back at home, I never managed to complete a flip. Now I just stuck the landing, albeit a little shakily. I guess being hunted down nonstop for two days improved the body...if you survived. _Had it only been two days? My God, so much has happened...Wonder if the others are feeling this way as well._ I knew they were virtual. I knew all this was fake, but they adapted to me. AI can't feel, can't change their programming; it was almost as if this was real life, and home was the game. Home wasn't anything like this world. Here, there seemed to be balance. For every truly bad soul, there was a pure one. At home, everyone was shallow...cardboard cut-outs. Well, maybe there was one person who wasn't. _Nelly...are you doing okay?_ She had been my friend, my guardian...mom. Nelly always made fun of me, but that cheery smile and how she always took me out for sushi after I brought my report card home when I was in elementary told me that she really did care. She cared more than Victoria ever did.

Now you're definitely wondering, huh? Victoria is my mother. She's the one whose looks I inherited. Pale skin, pale eyes, sleek black hair...that's all her. My dad looks like you took Leonidous, shaved off his beard, grew his hair out so that it touched the back of his neck, slicked it back so that he had no bangs, and threw him in a suit with sunglasses. I know I've gotten away from the events at hand, but hey, even emo rich kids get homesick.

I continued climbing up the side of the wall, finding ledges and metal ridges all along it. Thoughts of home still invaded my mind. I remembered our last trip together as a family.  
XXX  
_It was a hot summer day, and we were standing on a ridge overlooking the islands of Catalina. Dad stood right next to me while Mom stood next to him. For three weeks we stayed in Catilina, but our vacation had finally come to an end. Dad put his hand on my back as we looked out at the ocean and he told me how one day, I would come to understand why he was always busy and why he couldn't spend time with me. I replied, being an ignorant child of six, by saying he had time these few weeks, why couldn't he spend more? He told me he would try to fit more days in his scheduale to do so. When we got home, those few hours before bed were the last I saw of either of them before Christmas. I used to sit on the front steps when I was younger, waiting for them to come back, telling myself that today was the day they would come back and we would go to Catilina or the Bahamas or even the carribean...but it never happened once. I only ever saw them at Christmas from that day forth.  
_XXX  
I shook my head, dispelling the thoughts from my mind. I had to focus on the task at hand: regroup with Light. Dad's a dick and Mom's a bitch, get over it and move forward. That's one of the things I could do for sure: No matter what happened, I would always be able to move forward. Being stuck in my favoite game: I took it in stride. Becoming l'Cie: I dealt with it. Learning I have a beast inside of me that hungers for blood every waking minute: Pushing it back in my mind to be considered at a later date. I flipped over the ledge and looked around. The mountains on either side of me fomed a pass, and I wanted to groan. If you haven't figured it out at this point, I am not too fond of enclosed spaces.

Slowly, the others joined me, with Hope bringing up the rear. As we proceeded down the pass, I tried to steady my breathing. I told myself the walls weren't closing in mentaly over and over.

Hope's, for once, steady voice brought me to reality, "Finally, I vent with a fight." Straight ahead of us was an open shuter door and inside was one of the metal douchebags I dreaded to fight. They weren't strong attackwise, but the ammount of time you took just to kill the thing made me want to throw my controler at the screen.

I gripped my blades tightly, and spoke, "We hit it with everything we got. Aero, fira, thundaga, the strongest spells at your desposal. Once you unleash your spells,, I'll rip into it." Everyone formed up around me, anticipation etched onto their faces. I decided to provoke the Pulsework soldier, as it wasn't coming towards us. Picking up a jagged stone by my foot, I launched it at the machine's head.

"Hey, fuck-bot! You want a fight?" I held my middle finger erect. "I'll make cans out of you!" Whether or not it understood me, It definitely knew I was taunting it.

"You sure you want to piss it off?" Hope asked as his hands began combusting. A fira spell. Before I could reply, a noise that sounded like metal scraping against concrete invaded my ears. I winced and covered them, wishing for it to end. It was, at this time, that I decided something: This Pulsework Soldier will fall by my hand. I'll kill it...I'll rip it into pieces...I'll wipe every bit of evidence that it ever existed...off the face...of this...world.

**A/N: Hey guys. Sorry for the long update. Recently broke up with my girlfriend, so that obviously was hard. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. I know it's not as good as previous chapters. It will get better I promise you. And I'll see you all next chapter.  
Cheers,**  
**Stryke**


	14. Chapter XIV

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for not updating in a while. I'm in Maui right now, and it's awesome. The water is beautiful, and the view from the rented house I'm staying in overlooks the ocean. I just got a phoenix Henna tatoo, and it came out great. Things are definitely looking up, I mean this is my first time on an island, so that's definitely fucking awesome. Anyway, I've been trying to forget about my ex and meet a nice girl...no real luck yet. So I decided to nurse my recent testicular injuries and write the next chapter for you guys. Hope you all enjoy and please R&amp;R, follow and/or favorite, and flame. Also, if there are any comments, questions, or concerns, feel free to PM me, and I will answer ASAP. And yes, I am still grounded.  
****Cheers,  
****Stryke**

**Chapter XIV: Fighting, Fighting, More Fighting, and Regrouping **

My blades seemed to spark with the same amount of anticipation that flowed through me. The screeching sound continued, and in the next moment, the metal soldier skidded to a halt in front of me, trying to knock me off-balance. _You're going to have to better than that, fuck-bot. _I glared as I rolled to the right, narrowly escaping injury. I lifted my head just in time to see a fireball engulf the Pulsework Soldier. It merely twitched slightly before charging towards me again. I dove diagonally, slicing my blades at its leg. My blades ricocheted off in a shower of sparks. Rolling into a crouch, I sheathed my left blade, then aimed my palm at the hunk of metal. It was on fire, courtesy of Sazh, and as soon as I locked eyes with Hope, he acted immediately. He hurtled a Watera spell at it, and right when it connected, I let a stream of lightning flow throw my palm.

The Pulsework Soldier knew then, that water and metal are great conduits for electricity. Sparks ran through its body making it twitch repeatedly. It turned towards me, and I could hear the angry roar of uncoiled gears spinning before it planted its feet in the ground like it was readying a charge. I pointed my blade to the ground and sprinted towards it, ready to jump over it when we were on top of each other. It merely stayed there and I leaped over it swinging my sword...and and the Pulsework Soldier's metal head slammed into my gut, knocking the wind out of me. I gasped for breath as I rolled off it and ungracefully face-planted in the dirt. Gasping, I turned on my back and I would've smirked if I could breathe, because right in front of my face was the glowing core of this Pulse piece of shit. Grabbing the bades next to me, I sat up and thrust them forward, then sheathed therm. It stopped making that horrible metal screech, and pieces of it shot off in all directions, making loud pings. I knew immediately what was happening, and tried my best to clear the vicinity. I knew I wouldn't make it away in time when all sound died.

BOOM!

The explosion blasted me off my feet, and I tumbled down the mountain pass. Groaning, I lifted my head, searching for any sign of my comrades with blurred vision, however I couldn't see anything save smoke.

As I moved to my legs, I began choking on the dust that filled the pass, and called out, "Sazh! Hope! Bubbly!" I then began smirking as I spoke, "Speak if you're okay!"

A small, weak voice answered, "I'm not okay..." That must've been Hope.

"Oh, that's a relief." I had to stifle a laugh as I heard his sound of indignation.

"I'm alright kid, however, I'm more worried about you. It seems after every major fight, you get fucked up worse than a PSICOM jarhead who picks a fight with Soldier Girl." Sazh chuckled at his own words.

I was about to retort, when an Australian accent piped up, "I'm alright, Stryke. Though...shouldn't we see what happened to Hope?"

"Finally, someone acknowledges my pain. Jesus, I can't decide who I hate more: Stryke, Lightning, or...anyway, can someone help me the hell out?!"

The smoke began to clear, so I had somewhat better vision, even though it was still blurred. Moving towards the sound of shuffling feet, I picked out the shape of a human silhouette with a ball on his head and a smaller one next to him: Sazh and Vanille.

"Hope, where are you?" Vanille asked as she moved around flutteringly.

"Unpher ooh!" A muffled voice called out. Vanille jumped away from the noise underfoot, and I looked down to find Hope's blackened and cut face sticking out from a pile of debris. He then went through a coughing fit and tried to move his head to glare at Vanille. "Thank you for finding me, but I didn't need to find out what your boot tastes like...God, that's something he would say!" He jerked his head towards me.

I smirked at him, "Glad to see that I'm corrupting Cocoon's impressionable youth." He opened his mouth to spew a pointless rant, so I cut him off, "You want me to dig you out of there?" He snapped it shut. I nodded, "Good. Bubbly, would you care to help me and-without stepping on his face-remove this debris with an aero spell?" By the expression on Hope's face, I'd say he would've face-palmed for not using one himself. She walked to side go him, aimed at the rocks covering him, and a large gust of wind blew them off him.

Hope sat up straight, groaning slightly, "Thanks Vanille. I really mean-Hey, where you going?" He yelled at me as I moved farther down the pass.

I turned my head and spoke, "Onward. We have to keep moving."

"And getting covered by rocks isn't a reason to rest?"

I glared, "Wasn't it you who said you were too weak? Don't you want to get stronger? Then come on! I've said I'd never leave someone behind. However, every minute we waste is another minute that she's ahead of us. I have a feeling that we a lll want to give her a piece of our minds." I received no argument from him except for slumped shoulders, but he moved forward.

We continued on, and Hope uttered a small squeak, "They're above us!"

I turned to him, and saw him pointing right over my head...I looked up and immediately jumped back, my hands going for my blades. Where my head was a moment before was a large metal beak.

"Be careful!" Vanille was already beside me, binding rod already flying towards the bird monstrosity. When it dropped from it's perch above, I got a better look at it, and I remembered what it was immediately: a Blue-winged Incubus. A metallic body and legs, but blue feathered wings and one hell of a pecker.

Sazh moved forward and leveled his guns with its eyes, sending sparks flying everywhere and leaving two large holes in its cerebral circuitry. "What is it, kid? Afraid of birds?"

I would've made a witty retort, but I caught sight of another Incubus ahead of us. I sprinted forward, my blades held at an angle of either side of me. The Incubus reared up, and charged towards me. _Playing chicken with a chicken...oh the irony. _I made myself stay on the course till the point of collision. Just like last time, right before we crashed into each other, I jumped over the Incubus, landed in a crouch and thrust both blades behind me. The sounds of animatronic squealing told me I hit the bull's eye. _  
_

I turned to Sazh, and spoke, "That answer your question? And you still owe me that gil." His expression was...disturbed and wary. "What's wrong Sazh?" I grew confused. Vanille also looked at me as if she couldn't decide whether to be scared or worried. "Bubbly, what is it?" Hope came last, and his young, cut up face was...cautious? "Hope...why are you all looking at me like that?"

Sazh spoke first, "I've seen you fight before, but you never grinned like that except when you lost it back in Lake Bresha. But your eyes...those weren't yours."

"What are you talking about? What's wrong with my eyes?"

"They're...tinted. Not fully silver. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with you, I'm just cautious. If you snap, I want to make sure you don't come after us."

I widened my eyes. "Sazh, I'm fine, okay? I know you have enough reason to be wary, but I'm not going to snap on you. The only time it happens is when we're about to lose. When we're up against something hard to handle. Incubi are nothing."

Sazh looked like he was about to say something, but Hope cut him off, "How do you know what they're called, Stryke?" I mentally bashed my head in. I slipped. "How do you know that they're called Incubi? _I_ didn't know what they were called. I study-studied-monsters when I could. I have information on just about anything, but not those. I'll ask again, and you better get it right. I mean, for all we know, you could be PSICOM. How do you know?"

My mind instantly thought up something, "Because I worked with PSICOM scientists. I studied everything I could. I was on the Purge train, because I went to Bodhum for a small vacation with my dad. When I heard about the Fal'Cie, it was already too late. I have no ties to PSICOM any longer. Like you, I'm part of Cocoon's six-most-wanted."

He narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth but Sazh stepped towards me, "You're through with PSICOM? Really? How do I know you won't stab me in the back?"

Then I remembered what I said when I first met Sazh. "Have you ever thought why my father didn't make it? He tried to stop those bastards from purging everyone. They killed him. That's why you can be sure I'll butcher anyone associated with them. I hate them more than you do."

Sazh looked at me, then at his boots, "Right...right. Sorry, kid. We're all a little jumpy is all. Let's just find Lightning and get the hell out of here."

"Amen." Hope mumbled as he followed Sazh out.

Vanille looked at me, "Stryke?"

I raised my head, "Bubbly...do you believe in inner devils?"

She cocked her head at me, "What do you mean by that? I believe that some people are evil and some are good. I also believe that those who are both evil and good choose their path. Evil doesn't worry about becoming evil, if that's what you're trying ask me."

I nodded, "It's nothing V-bubbly. Just forget it, alright?" Without waiting for an answer, I jogged after the rest of the group. _Smooth, Icarus. Real smooth. Jesus, you really are a moron. _My self-deprecating thoughts were interrupted once again by guess who...Bublly.

"Isn't that a-" SHe pointed at a giant wrecked ship a few feet away. It seemed that while I was insulting myself, we moved into an opened area.

"Pulse warship." Sazh finished.

"They made it this far?" She looked amazed.

"Of course not. Not during the war, not since. They might've tried, but none of their forces made it onto Cocoon. They only damaged the outer rim, then the Sanctum's Fal'Cie pushed them back. What, did you sleep through History?"

She giggled, "More or less." She turned towards Hope. "So, what's a ship from Pulse doing here?"

He looked to the side, "Once the war was over, people couldn't live near the rim anymore. In places like the Hanging Edge. So the Fal'Cie, they gathered the scrap from Pulse, and used it for rebuilding here. This is what was left: a bunch of garbage"

"And all the metal monsters from Pulse. It's a great area for kids." I couldn't help myself saying.

"Who'da thunk? A Pulse Fal'Cie and who-knows-what, mixed in with all the trash."

Vanille clasped her hands together and looked at her boots, "Who'da thunk..." She then turned around, "I'm going to go peak ahead." She ran towards the ship

Sazh groaned, "Do me a favor: stop wandering off and stay where I CAN KEEP MY EYE ON YOU!" This was, as always, unheeded.

I moved next to him and tried out my best Sazh impersonation, "Damn kids these days and their not following of directions. And masking me pay them gil for proving me wrong."

Sazh chuckled, "You need to change your tone. Make it a little deeper. Anyways, c'mon. We should try to keep up.

XXXXX

Forty-five minutes of cussing, getting lost, climbing, and fighting countless odds of Incubi later, we came to wooden rickety bridge overlooking a chasm...our luck is just amazing. Slowly and carefully, we went one at a time across the rotting wood. All I can say is thank Etro I'm not acrophobic. We finally regrouped at the other side, and a thud sounded around us. My blades were already in my hands, and as I spun around, a familiar red blade was at my throat.

"Hey Light. Sorry about the hostility, but I'm a little jumpy."

Sazh spoke, "Hey, welcome to the party!" She sheathed blazefire, and I returned my blades as well.

Vanille asked, all smiles as always, "You miss us?" Light only turned from them and continued along the path.

"Would it kill her to smile?" Sazh asked looking at us. I shrugged and followed her. "Oh, that's cool. Yeah, just shrug and become silent. Who are you trying to fool?" I merely shrugged without looking over my shoulder.

"Time to move!" Light yelled as she began running, the rest of us in tow. Well, at least we were hurrying to an annoying boss battle now, instead of walking to it...great.

**A/N: It's finally done! I told you I'd give you chapter 14 no matter what. It's done! I know it sucks. I'm sorry. Due to the grounding, I had to write this over the span of a couple months, and it shows. I'm sorry. But I did it, and that's what matters. The next chapter will be better and, hopefully, up sooner than this one. Please don't forget to R&amp;R, Follow and/or Favborite, and Flame(This chapter deserves it the most)**


	15. Chapter XV: Dance With the Dreadnought

**A/N: Hey guys, it's me. Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. Don't forget to R&amp;R, Follow and/or Favorite, and Flame as much as you'd like.****  
Cheers,  
Stryke**

**Chapter XV: Dance With the Dreadnought**

I ran to catch up with Light, who was racing across the metal sheets that served as bridges across this chasm. She didn't let up; in fact, she seemed to be increasing her speed as the others struggled behind. Hell, even _I _was struggling along.

I heard Vanille call out to Light, "You know I'll do what I can to help, however in order to do that I need to be able to see you so I can follow you!" If Light heard her, she didn't acknowledge her. She didn't stop running until we got through the chasm, and into yet another tightly enclosed pass...yippee. It wasn't until I caught up to her that I found the reason why she stopped. A pack of Incubi in front of the controls for the folding metal stairs we needed to climb.

"I am so tired of dealing with these fucking things..." I muttered under my breath. Yeah, This adventure was really starting to take its toll. I drew my blades, watching their movements. Five of them, five of us...perfect. It seemed the Incubi were content to sit back and watch us while Sazh and the others caught up. I said to Lightning, "Which one you want?"

"I'll take the three on the left." She said, not once breaking eye contact with her prey.

"How fast do you think you can kill them?" I asked, my hands twitching slightly, as I glanced at the walls of the canyon. Did I mention how much I fucking LOVE tight spaces? No? Exactly.

"Faster than you can kill your two on the right."

"Care to make a wager?" _Breath, Icarus...breathe. The walls aren't closing in, the walls aren't closing in, the walls aren't closing-_

"No. I don't make bets." I noticed the ghost of a smirk on her face out the corner of my eye. "Not on fights I know I'll win anyway." With that said, we both sprinted forward. The two Incubi I was heading to turned towards me, and charged. Doing my best baseball slide, I thrust both blades out, praying I'd connect. The familiar jolts of my blades hitting their mark ran up my arms. I smirked as I got to my feet. Wrenching my blades out of the still shrieking Incubi, I turned to brag to Light-only to find her leaning against the control panel with her arms crossed and a bored expression on her face.

"Took you long enough." She said as she turned to the control panel, pushing the button that unfolded the stairs. I looked at the pile of dead Incubi near her, and just shook my head. They were ridden with bullet holes and deep slashes.

"Well, speed over style, you know?" I rubbed the back of my neck, the feeling of the walls closing in slowly coming back. I did not get a reply. I shivered, and continued forward. Subconsciously, I patted the small bag of potions on my side. _Three left...it'll have to do._

"Doing good..." I heard Lightning say softly to herself. I briefly considered asking her what she meant, but made a smart decision not to. We moved along the metal catwalk, and I leaned against the railing, taking deep long breaths.

"You doing okay?" Sazh moved next to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm doing fine, just not keen on tight spaces is all." I said, then added as an afterthought, "Can I stay here for a little bit?"

"I guess you are human." Hope looked up at me before moving after Light.

"He didn't mean it like that, Stryke. He knows who to thank for saving us." Vanille told me before walking through the pass.

"Go on Old Man, I'll catch up." I told Sazh, and he shrugged.

"I think I'll stay with you." He began chuckling as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pouch. "Besides, I believe I still owe you."

I laughed as I took it, "Thanks, Sazh. Fifty-seven Gil?"

"Yep, you don't need to count it."

"Alright, let's get moving." I took one last breath of large open air before moving into the pass. Me and Sazh jogged steadily, following the obvious signs of Light's destruction: dead Incubi and pulsework soldiers littered the ground.

"I never really noticed the aftermath of Soldier Girl's work before now."

"We were too busy running forward to notice." I replied, hopping onto an upraised section.

"Aren't we still running?"

"We'll always be running." I replied, then my eyes widened. "Sazh, Light's up ahead."

She stood with one hand on her gunblade, "Hurry up!" She yelled before moving forward.

I turned to Sazh, "Invitation enough?" I sprinted towards her, rounding the bend before stopping short. In front of me was a large open area. In the center was what appeared to be a pile of trash, but I knew better. That was just camouflage for the Dreadnought.

"What do you suppose that is?" Light asked, a calculating look on her face.

_Oh, nothing really...except a pain in the ass boss. I really hope we have enough potions._

We all piled around it, and like I predicted, the pile of junk flew off in all directions. In it's place was a mechanical monstrosity. A rusted metal square head and body with hands that looked like they belonged in one of those cheap-ass claw games. Two fluorescent lights were attached to it's head.

"What the hell is that thing?" Sazh asked as he drew his pistols.

"Pulse armament." Light already had Blazefire drawn.

"And that's bad for us, isn't it?"

"What do you think, Old timer? It's coming right towards us, and it looks really pissed off. I'm sure it's just DYING to give us cookies!" I yelled as I unsheathed my left blade.

There was a sound, like gears tuning, and I smirked, "Hope, same plan as last time. I'd love to see how this thing reacts to being wet."

Hope apparently got the message, because right as I lifted my unoccupied hand, he hurled a Watera spell. When it connected, I let a stream of purple lightning flow from my fingertips. Unfortunately, the only effect that it seemed to have on the Dreadnought was a slight twitch. It raised it's hands into the air, and I smirked as a rather questionable and reckless idea came to me. I charged towards it, and just when the metal piece of shit was about to slam its claws down on me, I rolled to the side. I swiftly hulled myself over its arm and ran up to its neck. I was pleased to find Light there already slashing at it. I ripped my left blade out of its sheath, jumped onto the Dreadnought's head, and pushed the blade to the hilt. Hanging from it, I repeatedly slashed at the larger light. From the way it was reacting, I guessed it was the equivalent of its eye.

"Stryke, move your ass!" Light's voice called out. I looked behind me, and saw something fly towards me. I groaned as I felt a crushing vice close around my waist. I was pulled away from my blades, and looked the Dreadnought in the...lights? I let out a strangled growl as I felt its grip tighten. Then a feeling of being weightless before crashing into what I assumed was the canyon wall. I gasped, and the now familiar taste of my own blood filled my mouth as I slid down the canyon wall.

"Stryke!" As always, Bubbly's voice cried out.

I groaned as I looked up...and wish I hadn't. It's metal arm swung at me, knocking me into the wall to my right.

"I'll cover you, Kid, don't worry!" Sazh voice yelled, and I heard the sound of his pistols firing. When I raised my head, I saw the Dreadnought was advancing towards him. Struggling to my feet, I reached into my pouch and downed on of my remaining potions.

"Stryke!" Hope called out to me. "Let's go!"

I nodded, and as I ran at the Dreadnought, I spied Vanille swing her binding rod at its legs, trapping them. Needless to say, when it tried to move, it fell face-first onto the ground. A rumbling sound echoed around us, along with the sound of cracking. I let out a startled yell as the ground gave out beneath us. The fall was short, but there was no debris to cushion my fall this time. I landed face first.

As I got to my fee, albeit groggy, I heard Sazh groan, "Thought we were goners. You alright?"

"I think so." Vanille replied

"Incoming!" Light was already in position when the Dreadnought jumped down to join us in this lovely hell hole

"Can you give us...a fucking...BREAK!" I growled as I reached for blades that weren't there. As I looked at its face, I saw both blades imbedded in it, sparking occasionally. _Shit._

"Stryke, do you think you can let loose some lightening right now?" Hope asked as he held two different spells in his hands: in the right was a Watera, while the left held a Fira.

I shook my head. I knew that wouldn't make a difference. _There was something about this boss...a weak point or something. It had to do with-_

"Its wrecking ball!" I exclaimed as said wrecking ball flew towards me. Faster than a bullet, I hit the dirt. Rolling, I got back on my feet, and ran towards Light. "Did you the chain?" She glanced at me briefly before nodding, her attention focused on the Dreadnought. "Direct all attacks to it. I'll piss it off and get it to launch the wrecking ball at me. With that, I charged it, and slid under its legs, hurling obscenities. "Come on you rusted piece of shit! You can't hit me? I'm right in fucking front of you! What, did I stab your light eyes? Why don't you get back at me, you metal pussy!" I then began hurling taunts that would make the French-Man from that one movie about the Holy Grail proud. "Your mother was a metal hamster and your father smelt of elder berries! I took out your band of empty metal headed k-nig-ets! Now launch the fucking wrecking ball at me, or I shall taunt you a second time!"

Apparently, it either understood what I was saying, or it just really hated my voice, because it did as I asked...and it hit dead center. I was propelled by the sheer force of it, and ended up between a wall and a ball. I slowly felt myself slip into unconsciousness.

xxx

My eyes opened, and I was once again in the room that was bathed in white. My darker counterpart was sitting on the opposite side of the room, his back against the white wall.

_"That didn't take long. Is this going to be a daily occurrence?"_ His voice sent shivers down my spine, like a knife was scraping it.

"Oh, you have a sense of humor. That's...annoying." He merely shrugged. "So, why am I here? I know I wouldn't be here unless you wanted to take my body for a joy ride."

_"Oh, is that how you think I feel about you?" _He tried to feign concern, but began cackling madly. I knew why everyone looked at me uneasily when I laughed. It was...terrifying. _"Okay, that's enough of that. Jesus, how do people act like that all day? Anyway, I don't want to come out and play, even though that sounds very appealing."_

I scoffed, but as he raised his head, I noticed black marks covering his neck and jaw line, barely touching the skin of his cheek. "What happened to your-"

_"Neck? Why would I tell you? I think it'd be amusing to see you squander, trying to find out what's wrong with yourself"_

"What's the harm in telling me" I then forcibly added, "We're the same person, anyway."

He raised his head, and smirked darkly at me, _"You don't truly believe that though, do you? You believe that I'm a blood-thirsty monster that somehow split your mind into two. You believe this, because it's all that makes sense to your fucked up little head. You can't believe that I'm actually just the real you, and you created this space just for me so you can lock the beast you really are away. You can't believe that you're a monster, and I'm just part of your delusion."  
_He smirked at me, and I backed away, my hands reaching for my blades...which weren't there.

"Y-you're lying."

_"And you're proving my point."_

He had me. He knew he had me. Fucking bastard using my own tactics to prove that I'm right.

_"Anyway, I think I've given you enough to choke on. Your friends are already done with that...how did you word it? Rusted piece of shit? Or metal pussy? Well, whatever it was, they've had enough time. I'll taunt you later." _He waved, and everything became stretched out and blurry, like I was being pulled out of that room.

xxx

My eyes slowly opened, and I coughed, choking on the dust that surrounded me. Though my vision was blurry, I could pick out my comrades standing around the fallen form of the Dreadnought. Then I noticed the crushing weight that was increasing the difficulty of breathing.

"Hey guys..." I managed weakly. "How did it go? You know what, can you get this fucking wrecking ball off me first, then we'll talk." Light was the first to stand next to me, but her face was contorted in...anger. _Oh shit_

I watched her as Vanille ran up to us. "One moment. There is something I'd like to stay to Stryke." I knew what was coming. Pain exploded from my right cheek. "YOU DUMBASS!"

**A/N: I DID IIIIIIIIIT! It's finally done. I am so sorry for the long as hell update time. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and to those of you who are waiting for Odin, it's coming , I promise. I love you all for sticking with me, and I also have an idea for a smaller project to work on when I hit a writer's block for this one. Not going to give out anymore details yet though. Please R&amp;R, Follow and/or Favorite, and as always, Flaaaaaaame. I'll see you all next time in Chapter XVI: Separate...is That the Best Idea?  
Cheers to you all  
Stryke**


	16. Chapter XVI

**A/N: Hey guys, how you all doing? I'm back with chapter XVI, so I hope you all enjoy. I don't own FFXIII. Square Enix does. We all know how I feel about that, however I will bore you will plots to steal ownership some other time. Please don't forget to R&amp;R, Follow and/or Favorite, and Flame. I love you all by the way for sticking with me.  
Cheers,  
Stryke  
**

**Chapter XVI: Separate...is That the Best Idea?**

I turned my face back towards Light and asked, "Can you please get this thing off me?"

This seemed to anger her even more as she cocked back her fist again, "What the hell is wrong with you?!" She let it fly. This time she got me right in the kisser. "You taunt it to launch the wrecking ball at you, and when it does, you just stand there like an idiot! What if you died? Did you even think about that?" She glared at me, and something clicked in my brain. _But...there's no way. There's no fucking way. _

Vanille walked up, "Hate to break this up, but I think I should get that ball off of him." She readied her hands, and I felt a strong gust of wind hit me, knocking the wrecking ball off. She nodded to herself, before walking back to Hope. "Ciao!"

I shook my head slowly before standing up and looking down at Light. "Lightning, I didn't die. A few broken bones? Definitely. Internal damage? Possibly. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that we won. Isn't that the way your Guardian Corps work? The unit before the individual?"

She looked like she was going to reply, but Hope walked up, "Okay, both of you have excellent points. However, I think you both should cool down before you fucking kill each other!" We exchanged looks before simultaneously hitting him. "Ow, the hell was that for?"

I looked at him, "Swearing. I think she did it because she wanted to."

With that we both walked off, before Sazh asked Light, "Pulse is crawling with things like that, isn't it?"

She looked at him and shrugged, "Got me. Not even the Corps has access to intel on Pulse. Soldiers in the field fight blind."

Sazh turned to her, "Yeah, I kinda noticed that. But, don't you need to know exactly what you're up against?"

"Target's a target."

That's when I looked at her, "You like to keep it simple, huh?"

"I stick to my goal."

Hope walked into our conversation, "As long as you have a goal you can fight?" I cringed inwardly. I had to make sure he didn't go off the deep-end and try to kill Snow. I had to.

_"Yeah, 'cause it worked so well last time. You tried to save Nora too."_

_Shut up. I do not need to hear it from you._

"You can stay alive." Light told him as she walked away. I then noticed where she was headed. There was a pale green light shining up ahead. I realized as we got closer that it was a hall built on an incline. For once, we didn't have to climb. It was just an incline. Then I noticed how small it was. If Snow was here, his head would be touching the ceiling and I'm pretty sure I could touch both sides of the wall if I stood in the middle with my hands out stretched...fuck.

I looked at it up and down and everyone, including Light stared at me. "Fuck it." I muttered to myself. I positioned my self in the dead center before the square entrance.

"What the hell are you doing?" Hope asked as he grew a questioning look on his face. I didn't answer, took one large intake of breath, and sprinted as fast as I could up the incline. After a few torturous seconds, I was past the hall way, and into fresh open air again, leaning on my knees and panting. I waited for only a few minutes before everyone else emerged, all except Light and Sazh stifling laughs.

Vanille put a hand on my shoulder, "That was pretty easy going, huh?"

I mumbled under my breath about how someone could be so bubbly all the time, while Light shook her head. We moved forward for a bit, until the pass opened up. There was a giant crashed ship in the center and I turned to Light.

"We'll stop here. I think we've given our pursuers enough distance." She then climbed to the wing of the ship, sat down with one knee bent and the other straight, and checked her gear. Me and Sazh looked at each other and shrugged before joining her.

Sazh sighed as he sat down on her left while I sat on her right, "Not much of a future for us, huh?"

"Hard to picture a happy ending." She replied.

"We don't even know where to go."

Light stood up as she gazed into the sky, "I do. There."

I followed her gaze, and saw what looked like a giant floating city, bathed in white light. "Eden?" I asked, already on my feet.

"The Sanctum's seat of power." Sazh followed suit. "Yeah, that's a great idea. Just charge right in there. give them a taste of l'Cie terror!" He than began chuckling, but promptly stopped when he realized we weren't laughing.

"Wait, y-you're serious."

"Keep running. It's die or turn Cie'th. There's no place for l'Cie to hide. No...they want a fight? Let's take it to the Sanctum's door!"

I walked in front of her, "Lightning, think this through. I'm about getting back, but there are better ways to do it." I remembered this part in the game, and I knew she would change her mind eventually, however if they're reacting to me then they may change their minds later on. "Let's continue on to Palumpolum. Hope's from there, anyway, and I have a hunch that we'll find something worth the trip."

"Why would Palumpolum be worth it? If anything, it'd be a way to get to Eden."

"This isn't a game!" Sazh jumped in.

She turned to him, "No. That's for damn sure. It started with Serah. The Fal'Cie took her. Now I'm a l'Cie too. And the Sanctum's hunting me, an enemy of the state. But who's pulling their strings? A Fal'Cie. Eden. Cocoon's sustainer and guiding light. It probably ordered the Purge too. Pulse and Sanctum Fal'Cie...they're all the same. And we're all the same to them: expendable. I'm not dying a Fal'Cie slave."

I snapped. "What the fuck's your plan then, Lightning? Huh?"

She turned to me, anger firing in her eyes as she spoke strongly dangerously calmly, "I'm going to destroy it."

Sazh flipped, "By yourself? Are you out of your goddamn mind? Say you pull it off...what does it get you? Satisfaction? Something happens to Eden, then it's lights out Cocoon!" He then slowly paled, "You _want _that, don't you? You're a Pulse l'cie now, so you just want to snuff out Cocoon!"

"NO!" A voice cried. I turned and saw Vanille standing there with Hope. "What about Serah? She said to save Cocoon! It might even be our Focus to make sure Cocoon stays-"

"Our Focus doesn't fucking matter!" Lightning advanced towards her. I don't...take orders from Fal'Cie! How I life is my fucking decision!"

I then cut in, "Don't you mean, 'how you die'?"

"Think like that, and it's already over."

"I know you get pissed when I don't think things through and almost get myself killed. Have you even thought what would happen if you die?" I asked.

She turned back around and looked me in the eye. "I've chosen my path. It's far better to stick with it and keep moving. I'm after the Sanctum, not the world. If it did come to that, wonder if our 'hero' would try to stop me?"

"You're after Snow now? Just like that and your enemies?" Sazh asked.

"Next time we meet, we might be too." She turned towards us, and I stood in front of her. She brushed passed me, but I grabbed her arm. "Let go of me, I-Stryke."

I shook my head, "I don't want this to fall apart. We already left one behind. I'll be fucked if I leave another." She didn't say anything, but turned back around and took a step closer to me. Then, the next thing I knew, I was on my back, looking up at her. She turned and walked away.

Hope looked at me, then at Light. "Snow deserves it!" He ran after her.

I looked at Sazh and Vanille, then at the retreating forms of Hope and Light. "Damn it! Sazh, take care of her! I have to fulfil a promise." _Even if it wasn't mine._

With that said, I bolted after them. I noticed that Hope stopped her earlier than he did in the game. They were right underneath that over hang of parts.

"Oh no.." I sprinted at them as fast as they could. I saw the PSICOM hit squad form up. I was still at least fifteen feet away. I saw the leader pull something out of his pocket. Five feet. He moved to press the trigger, and I dove. Lightning turned towards me as I pushed her as far away as far as I could. The PSICOM leader hit the detonator. There was an explosion above me, and when I looked up, all I saw was debris fall. I yelled, then everything went black.

XXX

My eyes opened to the sound of waves crashing on the shoreline. I looked around, and found myself back in Bodhum.

"Icarus, what do you find so compelling about my sister?" A voice asked.

I turned my head and found myself looking at the younger Farron, Serah. "Where did that come from?" I asked, trying to get at least some background information as to why I was sitting on the beach in trunks and a T-shirt next to Light's sister.

"Well, it's just that I don't want to see her getting hurt, and I don't know much about you. You seem like a nice person, but you're also kind of young. I want to know if you're just enamored by her looks or you actually see the kind person she is inside."

I smiled as I answered, "Well, I haven't known her that long, and I will admit in the beginning I felt a physical attraction because of her looks. However, I've seen her real side somewhat. When she talks to you for instance, she lights up. I now know of the real her, and I want to try to see it more often. I want to try to heal the damage that's been inflicted."

Serah looked at me up and down. "Hmm, either you're a good liar or you're being honest. Alright, fine. One condition though." I raised my visible eyebrow. "Break my sister's heart, and we'll break your legs."

I laughed at that, then saw everything begin to fade away, and I felt myself being pulled back.

XXX

My eyes slowly opened, and through blurry vision, I tried to look around for a sign of Lightning, but saw only blackness. I could feel that fire was around me, and something hard was on top of me. I couldn't hear anything save a piercing ringing. That's when whatever was on top of me moved, and I saw some form of light. The a familiar face stared down at me. Lightning. Her lips moved, but I didn't hear a word she said. She turned her head and said something to a person on her right. Was that...Hope? My vision slowly dimmed again, and this time, I didn't see anything but darkness.


	17. Chapter XVII: Scars and Eidolons

**A/N : Hey guys, I'm back with Chapter 17. I hope you all enjoy. Please don't forget to R&amp;R, Follow and/or Favorite, and Flame. Happy New Year guys.  
Cheers,  
Stryke**

**Chapter XVII: Scars and Eidolons **

My eyes fluttered open to find a stone roof greeting me. I groaned and sat up. My body was sore, and my vision was...off somewhat. I looked down at my hands and clenched them. The black fingerless gloves still covered them. The left side of my face felt...numb for some strange reason. I shook my head and surveyed the area. I was inside a small cave, and Hope was passed out on my right. I looked around for Light, but the cave was empty besides me and Hope. I still couldn't shake the feeling something was off. It was almost as if I was seeing less than usual. I rose unsteadily to my feet, and tried to think back. I didn't remember entering a cave. It's funny...I remember Light and Hope leaving the others, but after that, it's hazy.

"What happened?" My voice was hoarse, and I was aware of a horrible dryness in my throat. The only response was light snoring.

"You shouldn't be on your feet, you know?"

I spun around, and instantly regretted it. "Lightning?" I asked as I stumbled into the wall of the cave. "How long...when did we-" I then noticed something: it was slight, but it was there in her eyes, if only for a second. Guilt. "What happened?"

Light crossed her arms as she turned her head away from me, "You don't want to see for yourself?" She then walked back outside the cave. I groaned once more as I slowly straightened myself and followed her. _Why the hell do I feel like Snow crushed me in a bear-hug?_

As I walked outside, I saw puddles of water on the ground. Above, Eden shone brightly in the night sky. Light stood to the side of a giant puddle of water, and she beckoned me over. I raised an eyebrow as I shuffled over to where she stood.

"Stryke, look down."

"Why?"

"Just do it." Uncertainly, I did as she commanded and felt my jaw slacken. The face that looked up at me was not mine. It couldn't be mine. The entire left side of the reflection's face was a dark red color, and touching the bridge of my nose were markings that looked like tongues of flame. The skin around my left eye drooped slightly, making the eye slanted. I looked like a combination of the Hound from Game of Thrones and that angst-filled prince from that one anime about controlling elements. As if the hideous scar wasn't bad enough, my hair that used to touch my chin, now didn't even clear my forehead. At least, the left side didn't. The right side was as long as it had been.

I rose a hand to my face, and stared in horrid fascination, "Lightning...what happened?" I turned to face her. "What the fuck happened?"

She crossed her arms and looked me in the eye, "We were ambushed by a PSICOM hit-squad. We walked right into a trap. Their sergeant pulled out a detonater, and blew the charges placed above us. Hope bolted forward, and I was about to follow. I then heard rapid footfalls coming from behind me. As I spun around, you dove and knocked me away from the burning debris." As she spoke, I desperately racked my brain, trying to remember.

"I take it I wasn't fast enough." My hand sat glued to the scar. "I can sum up the rest: you killed them, dug me out, carried my dead weight here, and Hope healed me." Light nodded. "Were you injured?" Her pride wouldn't allow her to admit if she was, I know, but I still had to know. Besides the ludicrous and imbecilic fact that I cared for her, it would be my fault if she had been hurt.

She gave me a look that I couldn't identify. Anger, yes, but also something else...

"I'm fine." She spat before brushing past me. I heard her wince as she did so.

"Obviously not." I muttered loud enough for her to hear me, but quiet enough for her to think I was talking to myself. I stared back at my reflection, touched the scar lightly, and sighed. I turned away slowly, and moved slowly back to the cave. Inside the cave, I saw Hope still passed out and Light was leaning against the wall, a roll of bandages in her hand. She shrugged her coat off, and I saw that blood was seeping through her bandaged shoulder.

"Enjoying the show?" She asked without lifting her gaze. For the first time in my life, I stuttered an apology. I shook my head, and turned my head away.

"You should have told me." I spoke, and mentaly punched myself.

"What would that have solved? I've had worse than just bullet wounds."

"Yes I know, but you were injured because of me, Lightning. If I had handled that ambush better, than you wouldn't have ended up with holes in your shoulder."

There was silence for a time, and when I turned around, a hand closed around my throat. "What the hell is wrong with you?! You have seen yourself, correct? A permanent scar that will forever be a detriment to you, and you're worried that I got shot twice?!"

Despite the vice around my throat, I managed to grit out, "Nothing else matters to me when it concerns you. Nothing. Even if you hate me for it, I will always choose you..." Her grip slackened somewhat, and I took the opportunity to break free of her grasp and stare her in the eye, "because I am that selfish." Her eyes softened somewhat, and I turned towards Hope's still slumbering form, "Lightning, as soon as you're finished bandaging your shoulder, we'll continue moving.

As I shook Hope awake, I heard her speak, "Light."

I turned back to her, "What?"

"Call me Light."

I nodded, and then spoke, "Light? call me Icarus." The only response I got was a nod. Not like I expected anything else.

Hope finally stirred and glared at me with half-lidded eyes, "Why?"

"Wakey-wakey Sleeping Beauty, Palumpolum awaits."

Hope looked at me for a long time, then his eyes widened to the size of saucers, "Jesus Christ, what the fuck happened to your face!" My response: backhanding him. "What the hell?" Another one. "Why are you hitting me?"

"Language."

He groaned as he sat up, "I thought this was all a dream. I dreamt I was back in Palumpolum, and Mom was waking me up from a nightmare."

I helped him up, "I know you miss home and your mom, Hope, but we got to get moving right now. I need you to clear your mind, can you do that?"

He looked at me and nodded, "Y-yeah, I can. Like she said, pick a path and stick with it, right?"

I nodded, then turned back to Light, "You ready?"

She had put her coat back on, and was strapping Blazefire to her waist. "Let's move."

With that, we headed back out into the night, "So, what's the plan from here?" Hope asked.

"We go through the Gapra Whitewood to Palumpolum. We'll find transport to Eden from there." Light replied, already taking the lead.

"Yeah, well I live in Palumpolum. I can show you all the shortcuts."

"We're not making any detours." I said as I kept pace with Lightning.

"You don't have to worry about that. L'Cie aren't welcome back home." he said softly.

"That's the understatement of the year." I muttered under my breath. That was the last anyone spoke as we continued to traverse the Vile Peaks.

It wasn't very long until we began lagging behind her, and she noticed. "This isn't working." Light stopped and turned to face Hope, who was panting hard with his hands on his knees. "I mean you're a liability. You'll only slow me down."

I moved in front of her, "Light-"

"No, Ic-Stryke, don't get in my way on this one. We both know we can't protect him."

"Hope's proven that he can hold his own, besides he's just a kid Light." She fell to her knees with a grunt, clutching her chest.

"You can't leave me here!" Hope began to panic. "You have to take me with you!"

"Enough! I've got the whole world against me. I can barely keep myself alive, let alone some helpless kid and a dumbass who's not even from this world!" Her chest began glowing a dark pink. She struggled to her feet and yelled, "I don't have time to baby-sit both of you! You want to get stronger? Do it on your own!"

I barely registered what I was doing before I had drawn both my blades and charged towards her, but the rose-like pattern on the ground beneath her stopped me. How could I not remember this? The light bcame brighter until it was blinding. Lightning managed to leap out of the pattern before something appeared where she was standing. It was a ten-foot tall figure in white and gold plate-mail. In his left hand was a giant shield while in his right was a double edged staff known as Zanketsuken. His eyes were emrald green, and two golden horns stuck out from his helmet. A white cape was draped over his right shoulder. He was the Keeper of Truth. He was the Destroyer of Corruption. He was...

Odin.

Lightning looked up at the Eidolon-her Eidolon-with wide eyes, "This cannot be happening." Odin looked at her, then without warning, charged at Hope. Light stood, her gunblade not even in her grasp. Hope yelled and cowered as Odin rose his staff. And I...well, I moved. I moved faster than anytime before, and stood in front of Hope with my blades crossed. Odin completed his swing, and I felt the full weight of Zanketsuken above me, pushing me into a kneeling position. I felt the now familiar burning sensation from my brand, and pushed the weapon to the side. I would not give in to him. Not this time.

I saw Odin blink, and that's when I turned to Light, "Giving up on us already? What happened to the Lightning I fel-followed? The woman who wouldn't give up on someone's life even if the odds were stacked against us? The woman who wouldn't sit out on her own battle?!"

That smacked some sense into her, as she was drawing her gunblade and running towards us. Odin must'very still been surprised as to why I wasn't crushed like a bug underfoot. He blinked once more, then shook hiso head.

"You got a plan in Thathe idiotic mind of yours?" Light asked as she stood next to me.

I felt the anger rising, but I forced it back down, "One, but I may be too much of a dumbass for it to work." I saw a small smirk grace Light's features.

"You'don't better make it work." I grew a smirk of my own.

"Hope, back us up with healing, but don't exert yourself. The price for overloading magic is death" With those morale inspiring words spoken, I confronted the Eidolon with Light at my side. This was how it was supposed to be. The two of us fighting alongside each other, taking on whatever trial was thrown at us, with smirks on our faces. Odin regarded us cooly, and raised Zanketsuken. "Light, you ready?" She nodded in response. We charged Odin diagonally, in a hope to distract him. "Then let's rock!"


	18. Chapter 18: Oh My Odin

**A/N: I'm finally back baby! *ducks behind riot shield as rotten food flies through the air* I'm sorry, I know it's been months since I updated. I'm so sorry. I had a lot of messed up shit happen and I couldn't find it in me to write. However, I did promise you the next installment and here it is. The next chapter will be up sooner, I promise. Just be glad I got this up before this fic's birthday, which is in a few weeks. I will try to have chapter 19 done by then. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and please as always R&amp;R, Follow and/or Favorite, and Flame. I know I deserve it. Also, I don't own Final Fantasy XIII. It's Square Enix's property.  
Cheers,  
Stryke**

**Chapter XVIII: Oh My Odin**

"Then let's rock!"

I yelled as I bolted towards Odin's right leg. This would be my first time fighting with the scar. I didn't need a physician to tell me that my depth perception was off, but I hoped it wouldn't hinder me that much. I swung both my blades in a diagonal ark, but they merely bounced off his armor. Odin raised Zanketsuken as Light hacked and slashed at his right shin.

"Hey!" I launched a blizzard spell at Odin. He stopped mid-swing, and slowly turned his head in a 'What the hell?' manner. Seeing as how there was no trace of ice on him, I guessed I was the equivalent of a fly. Annoying. In response, he pointed Zanketsuken at me, and I could practically feel the electricity rolling off him. A stream of dark blue lightning streaked down at me. I sheathed my blades and purple lightning shot out from my fingertips, stopping Odin's stream. Before I had a chance to move, Odin sent me flying with a shield bash. There was a moment of weightlessness before I slammed into the side of a mountain, gasping as I felt my back take the full force of the impact before sliding down it. As I lay there gasping for air, sharp pains stabbed my chest every time I inhaled. I most definitely had some broken ribs, but my dumb luck pulled through once again, as I wasn't coughing up blood. Somehow, my lungs hadn't been pierced.

"Get out of here, Hope!" Light's voice shouted.

"No, I-I can help!" He yelled back, and I heard the telltale sound of a fira spell hitting its mark, then an aero, and finally a watera. It was quiet then, until a sound like the crackling of electricity filled the air, and Hope cried out in pain.

"No…" I grit out weakly as I forced myself to my knees, my limbs quivering. My eyes widened in shock when I realized that the inside of one of my pockets felt very wet. Fumbling with it, I groaned as my fingers touched broken glass. The last potion…destroyed. My only hope of protecting them gone. Through fading vision, I saw Lightning engaging in one-on-one combat with Odin. It felt as if flames licked at my back as I struggled to remain conscious.

_Just close your eyes, and I'll take over from there. It's that simple. Just let me in._

His voice, for once, didn't send shivers down my spine. In fact, I found myself doing as it asked. My eyes did feel like lead. Why would I not want to oblige and let them close? Let's face it, I came a long way. Farther than someone my age should have been able to come. It was a great attempt, and I enjoyed it while it lasted, but he was right. It's time to let go. Let him take over-

My eyes snapped open and I yelled out, "NO!" I was disgusted at the fact that I almost let him take my body for another joyride. _I…I am my own master. You have no power over me!_

The voice cackled in response, _I don't? Are you sure? I believe I made myself clear that I am only what you truly are._

_I'm nothing like you. You're a butcher, enjoying the slaughter of anything living._

_And you're not? How many soldiers have you killed? How many body parts have you severed? How many families have you broken? I may slice something to pieces, even after it's dead, but they've only been synthetics. _

_Shut up! It's me or them. I have no choice!_

_If you have no choice, then why do you enjoy it so much? I know how you feel when you kill. The adrenaline, the rush, and the sheer joy of it. You are the true butcher here. You love it so much._

I held my head in my hands as every confrontation flashed through my skull, and I screamed aloud at what I witnessed. I saw what I looked like to everyone else when I fought. I heard the thoughts of those I killed before they died. I saw images of family members of my victims: sons, daughters, lovers.

"Stop!" I yelled myself hoarse, the pain in my chest forgotten. Tears fell out of my eyes like a river. Then, finally, it was over. I panted and sobbed loudly as I shook and the pain returned.

_Now do you see? Not so hard to believe anymore, is it? _The shaking intensified, and I felt like curling into a fetal position. The voice broke into laughter, but didn't speak again. After an eternity, I slowly stopped shaking and sniveling.

"Look at yourself." A familiar voice spoke. I gasped as I looked up. Standing in front of me, bathed in light, was Lightning. She wore a glare on her face as she regarded me with contempt. "Pathetic. Crying over wastes that wouldn't even blink when they pulled the trigger."

"You're weak." Another familiar voice said. Hope emerged from behind Light. "You couldn't save my mother, and you have the audacity to shed a tear for these monsters?"

"I can't believe I thought you were the best recruit for NORA. You're no hero. You're a waste." Snow looked down at me, glaring menacingly.

"You have two options: fall on your own swords and save us the trouble or get up." Vanille.

"Get up, and do what I told you to do. However, I think I was wrong about you." Sazh.

I felt a glare form on my face and I squeezed my eyes shut, "Fuck all of you! You don't know what it's like! The repercussions of taking a life…the amount of innocent people that get hurt from it…"

"Stop making excuses. Taking a life is hard, but saving ten others by doing so is worth it. They may be people, but they're people who trade a paycheck for taking the lives of the people they're sworn to protect! They sold their souls when they started gunning people down. We are retribution." Lightning finished, and I stared at her, her words sinking in.

"Taking a life, so ten others may live…" I repeated slowly.

"Yes. Now, are you going to finish what you started, or are you going to sit down and cry while we destroy the Sanctum?"

I hardened my gaze as I saw her stick out her hand, which I took. "I'm finishing what I started." She nodded as she pulled me to my feet. Immediately, the light faded and I was on my feet, leaning against the canyon wall. I held my left arm against my ribs, and looked out at the battle before me. Hope was laying, motionless, on the ground near the combatants, but a definite rise and fall of his chest told me he was still alive. Unfortunately, the battle itself looked like it was a stalemate that was declining to Odin's favor. Lightning was becoming fatigued; her dodges were cutting closer every minute, and her sword strikes were slowing to the point that I could fight her with only one blade. To her credit, Odin's armor was covered in large cuts and nicks. He didn't show signs of slowing down any time soon though. I racked my brain for any possible way to get out of here alive. There was no possible way I could fight with my blades and I didn't fancy my chances of using magic, but we were running out of time_. In the game, the best way to defeat Odin is to have Lightning heal Hope as he casts spells at Odin. The reason is because Odin only shows up to either make Lightning remember who she really is and put her on the path, or if that fails, kill her._ My eyes widened. _That's it! In order to stop the battle, I have to knock some sense into Lightning. Here's hoping this works. _I pushed myself off the wall and, though my ribs protested immensely, advanced towards Odin as fast as I could…which wasn't that fast. I was essentially hobbling at them with the same speed as a light jog. Lightning barely managed to parry one of Odin's blows before her gunblade was knocked out of her hands. My desperation pushed me to move faster. She was only ten feet away. Odin raised Zanketsuken. Never being one to give in, Lightning drew the knife her sister gave her for birthday and assumed a stance. Five feet away. Zanketsuken came down.

"Lightning!" I threw myself in front of her, wrapped my arms around her, and took the blow to my back. Somehow, the weapon didn't pierce my skin. It bounced off the cross sheathed swords, knocking me and Lightning to the ground. I groaned as my ribs screamed in pain from the jaunting movement, but we were both still in one piece.

Lightning climbed to her feet and literally dragged me to mine before doing something extremely unexpected: she put herself in front of me and stuck both her hands out to the side as Odin raised Zanketsuken once more, "Do it! Your fight is with me, not them!" Odin cocked his head to the side before imbedding the mighty weapon in the ground on his side. He then jumped into the air and underwent his Gestalt Mode transformation. We did it. His arms and legs folded in on themselves, becoming hooves as his torso shrunk and twisted, resembling that of a beast of burden. His neck thickened and extended before his head and face became lengthened into that of a horse's muzzle. With a large flash, Odin was no longer the armored opponent he had been before. He was now a metal horse, complete with some turning gears. He cantered up to Lightning and nuzzled her, showing something akin to affection. She looked at it in sheer surprise before it cantered back over to Zanketsuken, picked it up with its mouth, and literally disintegrated into red energy before flying right at Lightning and getting absorbed into her brand. She panted as she fell to one knee and I stumbled over to her before offering her my right hand. She took it and I struggled to pull her to her feet. "I'd ask you what the hell you were thinking, but I already know the answer." She said as she took my arm, put it around her neck, and let me lean on her. Even though I couldn't see her gaze, I knew she was shaking her head. "You'll always choose me, huh?"

"Damn right." I replied as we made our way to where Hope was passed out. I reached into my other pocket before producing a Phoenix Down and throwing the feather over Hope. His emerald eyes fluttered open and he broke into a small coughing fit.

"Light? Stryke? When will we get out of Lake Bresha?" He asked weakly and both Light and I exchanged glances. Hope then shook his head as he came back to his senses, "Wait a minute. What happened? Where's the Eidolon?" He then looked at Lightning, and the pieces clicked. "Your brand…looks different. Is it due to the Eidolon? Like an actual l'Cie summons?" He got to his feet, staring at Lightning's glowing brand. I was surprised the kid hadn't been given another nap yet.

"Tch, magic and mumbo-jumbo. I must've hit my head on that Purge Train." Lightning said and I chuckled before wincing. It hurt to laugh.

"Stryke, are you alright?" Hope asked.

"Since when did you care?" I joked and winced once more. "It's only my ribs. I think they're broken." Hope's hands immediately started glowing green and he moved my arm before placing them on my damaged ribs. I gasped sharply as I felt the bones instantly mend and the pain all but faded away.

"I'm no Vanille, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve." He smiled and I smirked as I removed my arm from around Lightning's neck. It was then that I noticed a faint, but pleasant scent: roses. I stood up straight, my smirk widening. Who knew that the shape of her Eidolon crystal actually had some semblance to her? Hope's smile faded as he looked back at Light. "Am I…really in your way?" She didn't respond. She only walked to where her gunblade lay in the dirt and sheathed it before moving forward once more. "I'll do better! I'll try harder! I'll-"

"Hope." Lightning and I both cut him off before locking gazes and smirking. "We'll toughen you up."

Lightning then said quietly, "I'm sorry…about before." I knew she was speaking to both of us, and I couldn't help but smile at her retreating form.

I looked at Hope, "Well, you waiting for an invitation?" He shook his head and we both jogged after her. It wasn't long until we ran into another PSICOM hit squad, and my blood ran cold. I reluctantly drew my blades and thought about the vision I had. _I have to do this. I'll take their lives, I'll save a hundred innocents. Above all else, I will protect her. _

"L'Cie!" Their sergeant yelled as all guns were locked onto us.

"You two got my back?" Light's voice asked as she flicked out Blazefire and got into a lazy stance. She was still fatigued.

"Yeah!" Hope answered as he threw a fira spell at an unprepared soldier, engulfing him in flames.

"Don't I always?" I asked as I parried a baton aimed at my midriff with my right blade while thrusting with my left. I wanted to gag as I felt his blood spill out and coat my hand. I never realized how sticky and warm it was until now. Ripping the blade out, I turned and dashed at the sergeant, swinging both swords across his torso and ripping right through his armor like butter. He fell into two pieces, and I felt the need to vomit, but there was nothing in my stomach to lose. Flinging the blood off my blades, I sheathed them and promptly fell against the nearest rock.

Lightning had already finished the two soldiers that had foolishly targeted her, and she looked around the area, "We'll stop here" I looked to the left and saw Hope panting as sweat poured down his sickly pale face. He was over-casting.

"Sorry…" he managed before propping his back against the mountain wall, and I sat across from him.

"Don't sweat it. I'll look around, you two rest up." She started moving past me, but I caught her wrist.

"Remember what I told you in Lake Bresha? You need your rest too. You look like you're going to fall over." She opened her mouth to argue, but I cut her off, "If you don't sit down and rest, then I will knock you out."

She smirked at the challenge, "I'd like to see you try."

"Hey guys, that might work well and all, but you know what would work better? GOING THE FUCK TO SLEEP!" Hope yelled before turning over on his side in finality. Light and I traded glances from him to each other, then shook our heads and chuckled.

"You heard the kid." I smirked as I lay my head against the wall. Before I closed my eyes, I saw Light sit down next to me. I smirked before sinking into oblivion.

xxx

My eyes opened to find Lightning cleaning her gunblade. She didn't look like she was about to fall over, but the wild look in her eyes never left, nor was she free of black circles. Hell, we all had black circles.

"Couldn't sleep?" I asked as I sat up straight.

She shook her head as she ran an oil rag down Blazefire, "No, I just kept waking up, thinking we were going to get ambushed. Figured it would be best if I remained on watch."

I nodded before looking at Hope, "How's he doing?" I asked. He looked alright now, with his skin a regular pale shade and not sickly.

"Fine, except for the muttering every now and then. I'm convinced he was the main reason I thought we were being ambushed." I smiled at that.

"Mom…" Hope muttered in his sleep and my smile faded as I looked back at him. He looked peaceful, like he was home. At least he wasn't having a nightmare.

Lightning stared at him for a second before shaking her head, "Not by a long-shot."

I sighed, "It's up to us to look after him, huh? The kid wants to get stronger, I know I can teach him a few things."

"Like sprinting to his death at record speed?"

I looked back at her, "Not only that, but being a smartass." I smirked and saw the sides of her mouth twitch upwards. "Alright, you should get back to sleep. I'll stay on watch." I was expecting her to argue, but for once, she only folded up Blazefire and put away her cleaning supplies before closing her eyes. I looked at her and smiled. Maybe, just maybe, something will actually come of this.

**A/N: How was it? I know it was a little on the short side, but I hope you all enjoyed it or at least had a favorite part. The next chapter will be better because it starts the arc of this story that I've been wanting to get to since chapter 10. It will be better. I'll see you all there. Please Review, by the way. I like reading any input you guys have. I mean, I'm nothing without you guys. If it weren't for all of you filling up my inbox with favorites and follows-followings?-then I would have fallen apart. I really appreciate all the feedback and if you have anything you want me to add or questions, then PM me. I check my emails every day, so I'll get back to you asap. Anyway, this is Stryke signing off for now. I'll see you guys next time.  
Cheers,  
Stryke **


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